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The  People's  Bible: 


niSCOUHSES    UPON  HOLY  SCRJ-PTtJ'M'Mr  '  -.^ 

\     ,.1<J  ,. ^  ,•->>.  ^ 


JOSEPH     PARKER,    D.D., 


Minister  of  the  City  Temple,  Holborn  Viaduct,  London. 

AO'THOK     OF     "  ECCK     UEUS,"     "thE    rARACLETE,"     "tHE     PRIESTHOOD     OF   CHRIST,"    EVC 


THE   INNER  LIFE  OF  CHRIST, 

AS   REVEALED    LN    THE    GOSPEL    OF   MATTHEW. 
Volume  II. 

"SERVANT    OF    ALL." 


NEW   YORK: 
FUNK   &   WAGNALLS,    Publishers, 

1 8    AND    20   ASTOR   PLACE. 
I  888. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  i88?. 

By  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PRESS  OP 

FUNK   &  WAGNALLS, 
18  and  20  Astor  Place, 

NEW  YORK 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


VOL.    II. 


PAGE 

XXIX.  Matthew  viij  1-4.     Great    Eloquence    supported    by 
Great   Beneficence 5 

Christ  comes  to  the  Meek  and  Lowly — The  Leper's  Appear- 
ance and  Prayer — Sorrow  turns  to  God — The  Compassionate 
Physician — Christ's  Miracles — The  Will  made  Right. 

XXX.  Matthew  viii.  5-1 3.     The  Human  Sympathy  of  Christ.     14 
Jesus   comes   to   Town — The    Centurion's   Announcement — 

Christ  adapts  Himself — Jesus  not  a  Specialist— The   Prayer  of 
Faith— Our  Power  to  please  Christ 

XXXI.  Matthew  viii.  14-17.     Working  all  Day 23 

Christ  enters  the  House— God  chastens  His  Beloved — The 
Benefit  of  Affliction — Jesus  comes  at  Sunset — Christ's  complete 
Cu.e — His  Work  continual — Jesus  invited  to  the  Heart. 

XXXII.  Matthew  viii.   18-22.     The  Conditions  of   Disciple- 
ship  32 

Christ  gives  Commandment — Answers  the  Needy — Tests  the 
ardent  Temperament — Christ's  Reply  to  Temporizing — The 
Law  of  Exaggeration — Making  and  Rewarding  Disciples. 

XXXIII.  Matthew  viii.  23-27.     Christ's  Inward   Peace  con- 
trolling Outward  Storms 41 

The  Weariness  of  Jesus — The  Sleeping  Christ — How  to  come 
to  Christ— Increase  of  Faith — The  Supremacy  of  Faith— Prayer 
in  Danger. 

XXXIV.  Matthew  viii.  28-34.     The  Supreme  Miracle 51 

A  Critical  Hour-— The  Cry  of  Distress— True   Knowledge  of 

Self— Our  Need  of  Christ— Living  on  a  Low  Level— Sympathy 
for  Mankind — Christ  may  Depart. 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

XXXV.  Matthew  ix.  1-8.     Christianity  more  than  an  Argu- 
ment      62 

Christ  Rejected — Faith  and  the  Palsy — What  Christ  sees — 
A  fundamental  Teacher — Dragging  Things  down — Spiritual  Per- 
ception— True  Religion  is  Manly — Christ's  Philanthropy — An 
Irrefutable  Argument. 

XXXVI.  Matthew  ix.  9-13.     Calling  to  Discipleship 73 

Every   One   of   Account — How   Names   are   Given — A    New 

Name — The  Royal  Call — Following  Christ — Matthew's  Feast — 
Eating  with  Publicans — A  Narrow  Criticism. 

XXXVII.  Matthew  ix.  14-19.     The  Spiritual  Law 82 

Little    Questions — Ideal    Religion — The     Great     Question — 

Union  with  Christ — Fasts  and  Feasts — Freedom  in  Religious 
Habits — Christ  the  Helper — Companionship  of  Jesus. 

XXXVIII.  Matthew  ix.  18-26.     Affliction  in  the  House.  ...     92 
A  Point  of  Interruption — Jesus  ever  attentive — No   Trouble, 

no  Christ — Death  in  great  Houses — And  behold  a  Woman — 
Jesus  our  High  Priest — In  the  Ruler's  House — Indispensable 
Miracles. 

XXXIX.  Matthew  ix.  27-31.     The  World    through    which 
Christ  passed 101 

Every  One  creates  a  World — The  Blind  Men's  Prayer — Only 
One  Cure — Faith  the  Measure  of  Progress — The  Church  unsuc- 
cessful, Why  ?- -Miracles  and  the  Gospel. 

XL.    Matthew  ix.  32-35.     Christ  must  be  accounted  for.    ...   iii 

Who    is   Christ? — Character    of    the     Answers— Beware     of 
'      Prejudice — Christ's    Argumentative     Reply — His    Judicial  An- 
swer— Clever  Blasphemers — Waiting  with  Patience. 

XLI.     Matthew  ix.  36-38.     Christ's  View  of  the  World 121 

Compassion  the  Key-word — Impressions  of  the  Multitude — 
Incomplete  Social  Views — The  Christian  Congregation — The 
Shepherdly  Element  in  Christ — The  complete  View. 

XLII.     Matthew  x.  1-4.     The   Missionary  Charge 132 

Prayer  for  Labourers — Wisdom  of  the  Carpenter's  Son — Giv- 
ing Power  to  Man — Flood  Times  of  Progress — Mystery  of 
Originality — Christ's  peculiar  Power — The  Apostles'  Names — 
Christ's  spiritual  Creation. 


CONTENTS.  V 

PAGE 

XLIII.     Matthew  x.  5-23.    The  Uses  of  Inspired  Power.  ...   141 
Inspired     Power — Beneficently    used     by    Christ — The    true 
Missionary  Spirit — Bread  enough  for  the  Workman — Character 
of  Goodness — The  Church  Feeble  when  Luxurious — Obligation 
of  the  Right — The  Service  of  Jesus  Christ. 

XLIV.     Matthew  x.  24-42.     Christ's  Consolation  for  Work- 
ers   151 

Christ's  Comfort — Sectarianism — Consolation  in  Store — The 
Disciples  Honoured — Suffering  for  Christ — Enduring  to  the 
End — Finally  Saved. 

XLV.    Matthew  x.  2d-42  (Continued).     Review  of  the  Whole 

Charge 160 

A  Missionary  Campaign — Going  in  Company — Christ  claims 
Divine  Homage — Religious  Mystery  Avoided — An  Inspired 
Church. 

XLVI.     Matthew  xi.   1-19.      Christ's  Estimate  of  John  the 

Baptist 169 

John  the  Baptist — Sending  to  Christ — The  Baptist  Answered 
— The  Working  Church — Christ's  Treatment  of  Doubters — Christ 
and  the  Baptist. 

XLVII.     Matthew    xi.   20-24.       Seeking    Fruit    and    Finding 

None 179 

Disappointments — Miracles — The  Incarnation  of  Christ — The 
Law  of  Judgment — Christ  consistent — Sinning  away  Life. 

XLVIII.     Matthew  xi.  25-30.     Christ's  Joy 189 

The  Child  Spirit — Saved  by  the  Heart — Frederick  William 
Robertson — Bible  Reading — Rest  in  Christ — God's  Will  be 
done. 

XLIX.     Matthew  xii.  1-13.     The  Sabbath 200 

David  and  the  Shewbread — Christian  Sunday  Work — The  Sab- 
bath Secularized — Sabbath  Observance — Sabbatarianism — A  Day 
of  Joy. 

L.     Matthew  xii.   14-37.     Mighty   Words   and   Mighty  Judg- 
ments   211 

Exaggeration  of  Piety — Christ's  use  of  Miracles — The  Purpose 
of  Christ's  Life — Casting  out  Devils — A  Kingdom  divided — The 
Unpardonable  Sin. 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

LI.     Matthew  xii.  38-50.     Christ's  Denials 222 

The  Refusals  of  Christ — Intellect  not  Included — The  unclean 
Spirit  of  Curiosity — The  Doctrine  Morally — The  Quiet  Excite- 
ment of  Christ — His  Comprehensiveness. 

LII.     Matthew  xiii,    1-23.       The    Picture    Gallery     of    the 

Church 233 

Meaning  of  Christ's  Parables — The  Sower  and  the  Seed — 
Parallel  Similitudes — Results  Indicated — Sowing  Spiritual  Seed 
— Accepting  and  Refusing  the  Gospel. 

LIII.     Matthew  xiii.  24-43.     The  Tares  and  the  Wheat 245 

Social   Analogies — Tares    in    our   own    Hearts — A     Puzzling 
Question — The     Power    of    Jealousy — The     Enemy's     Work —       ' 
Until  the  Harvest. 

LIV.     Matthew,  xiii.  31.     The  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed 256 

Conquering  Force  of  Vitality — Good  Character — Meritorious 
Inventions — God  as  a  Father — The  Law  of  Growth  in  God's 
Kingdom — The  Church  All  -  Embracing — The  Consummation 
Realized. 

LV.     Matthew  xiii.  44-46.     Treasure  and  Pearls 267 

The  Search  for  Life's  Treasures — Little  Surrendered  for  Much — 
Business  Character  of  the  Kingdom — Christ's  Religion  Sovereign 
— The  Great  Argument :   Christ  ! 

LVI.     Matthew  xiii.  33,  47-50.     A    Double    Aspect  "  of    the 

Kingdom 274 

Permeating  Influence  of  the  Kingdom — Formation  of  Charac- 
ter— Penetrating  yet  Silent — Philanthropy  and  General  Society — 
Mixtures  in  the  Church — Long-suffering  with  the  Imperfect. 

LVII.     Matthew  xiii.  51-58.     Parables  Turned  to  Account..  282 
Christ's  Gospel  Intelligible — The  Reality  of  God's  Kingdom — 
Beneficent  use  of  the   Gospel — Imagination  a  Treasure — Low- 
minded  Criticism — The  Carpenter's  Son. 

LVIII.     Matthew  xiii.     Review  of  the  Thirteenth  Chapter.  .  291 
The  Kingdom   of  Heaven — Teaching   by  Contrasts — Revela- 
tion better  than  Criticism — The   Antiquity  of  Truth — The  Strife 
of  Tongues. 

LIX.     Matthew  xiii.     The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Parables 300 

Love  a  Creative  Power — The  Language  of  Flowers — The 
Danger  of  Sentimentalism — Power  and  Responsibility  of  Com- 
parisons— The  Practical  Side. 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

LX.     Matthew  xiv.  1-14.     Herod  Hears  of  Christ 307 

The  Place  of  Miracles — The  School  of  Jesus — The  Complete- 
ness of  Faith— Herod  and  Righteousness — Revealing  our  Griet 
to  Jesus — A  Man  greater  than  Man. 

LXI.     Matthew  xiv.  15-21.     Making  Suggestions  to  Christ..  31^ 
The  Moth  and  the  Candle — The  Church  affords   Everything — - 
No  One    sent  Away — Retain    the    Good    Book — Bring    Men  to 
Christ — More  than  a  Miracle — The  Bread  of  Heaven. 

LXn.     Matthew  xiv.  22-36.     Revelation  by  Night  and  Day.  .  323 
The  Mountain  and  the  Sea — The  Need   of  Sabbath   Times — 
Christ's  Prayer — Seasons  of  Meditation — Walking  on  the  Sea — 
The  Troubling  Word — Jesus  Saves. 

LXHI.     Matthew  xv.  1-20.     Defilement  Spiritual,  not  Cere- 
monial. ...    332 

Christ's  moral  Indignation — Altering  the  Religious  Stand- 
point— Outward  Observances — The  Critic  Criticised — The  Law 
of  Declension — The  Right  Reading  of  Scripture— Morals  and 
Speculation — How  to  Change  the  Heart — The  Pharisees 
Offended. 

LXIV.     Matthew  xv.  21-31.     Christ  Surprised  by  Faith 342 

The  Woman's  Prayer — Not  Son  of  David  Only — Our  Prayers. 
Sorrow  a  Teacher — Christ's  Abasement  Gracious — Faith  not  to 
be  Explained — Christ  on  a  Mountain — Personal  Miracles. 

LXV.     Matthew    xv.    32-39.      Christ    the    Satisfaction    of 

Hunger 351 

Hotv  the  Cross  is  to  be  Treated — Compassion — Christ's  Power 
over  the  World — The  Separating  Point — The  Gospel  to  every 
Creature — What  the  Summer  Does — The  Secret  of  every 
Miracle.  ) 

LXVI.     Matthew  xvi.  1-12.     Readers  of  the  Outside 360 

Desiring  a  Sign  from  Heaven — Denouncing  Hypocrisy — 
Moral  Discernment — Providence  in  Human  Affairs — The  Signs 
of  Passing  Events — The  Signs  of  Life — Written  and  Living 
Revelation. 

LXVn.    Mark  xi.  11.     The  Silent  Looks  of  Christ 368 

The  Circular  Look  —The  Look  of  Anger — The  Terrible  Look 
— Look  unto  Jesus — The  Consequence  of  Looking — Going  to 
the  Cross. 

Notes  on  the  Sabbath 376 


SERVANT     OF    ALL. 


XXIX. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  bless  thee  that  thou  hast  sent  thy  Son  to  our 
broken-heartedness,  our  mourning,  our  unutterable  distress  and  fear. 
Thou  didst  not  send  him  to  our  greatness  and  power,  but  to  our  littleness 
and  weakness  and  utter  insufficiency.  The  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost — we  bless  thee  for  this,  for  in  that  word 
"  lost"  we  find  our  own  true  state.  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  : 
we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way,  there  is  no  man  to  stand  up 
before  thee  and  challenge  thy  righteousness — each  of  us  puts  his  hand 
upon  his  mouth  and  his  mouth  in  the  dust,  and  says,  "  Unclean,  unprofit- 
able, unworthy."  We  see  Jesus  Christ,  the  Man  we  need,  the  Angel  of 
the  covenant,  the  Minister  of  light  and  hope,  the  Priest  who  offers  his 
blood.  Thou  dost  no  longer  require  at  the  hands  of  man  the  cedar  wood 
and  the  scarlet  and  the  hyssop — there  is  a  fountain  opened  in  the  house 
of  David  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,  and  to  that  fountain  we  now  repair. 
Lord,  meet  us  every  one,  and  give  us  cleansing  of  heart,  sanctification  of 
thought  and  will  and  purpose  and  hope,  and  make  us  without  spot  or 
wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  complete  in  thine  own  holiness,  beautiful  with 
thine  own  light. 

Thou  hast  been  with  us  in  the  days  that  are  gone,  thou  hast  given  us 
indeed  to  see  the  grave,  but  the  tomb  has  been  in  a  garden  :  we  would 
look  at  the  garden  rather  than  at  the  grave,  for  all  that  sleep  in  Christ  are 
roots  that  shall  blossom  and  come  to  great  fruitfulness  in  thine  own  heav- 
enly harvest.  O  thou,  who  dost  sow  the  earth  with  the  dead,  thou  wilt 
surely  put  in  thy  sickle  and  reap,  and  the  harvest  shall  live  for  ever. 

Thou  hast  smitten  us  sorely,  and  thou  hast  mingled  some  of  our  cups 
so  bitterly  that  we  shrink  from  tasting  them,  for  surely  they  are  full  of 
what  men  call  death — but  thou  hast  strengthened  us  to  drink  those  cups 
even  to  the  dregs,  and  in  the  drinking  of  them  there  has  been  health. 
Thou  hast  led  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they  knew  not  ;  thou  hast  holden 
our  eyes  sometimes  that  we  might  not  know  thee,  that  we  might  accost 
thee  as  a  stranger,  and  tell  thee  our  complaint,  in  the  bitter  tone  of 
despair.  Thou  hast  dealt  wondrously  with  us,  our  hearts  have  been  un- 
grateful, our  eyes  have  been  quick  to  see  the  disadvantages  of  life,  but 


4  PR  A  YER. 

• 

our  vision  has  been  slow  to  discern  the  beauty  of  the  divine  presence,  and 
the  certainty  of  the  divine  way.  We  will  fill  our  mouth  with  mourning 
because  our  heart  is  full  of  accusation,  and  each  of  us  will  say,  "  God  be 
merciful  unto  me  a  sinner,"  for  every  breath  is  evil  and  there  is  a  taint 
even  in  our  prayers.  Keep  us  evermore  at  the  Cross,  bind  us  to  the  sac- 
rifice offered  thereupon  ;  other  hope  we  have  none,  out  of  that  great 
darkness  there  streams  a  startling  light,  and  out  of  that  infinite  woe  there 
comes  infinite  reconciliation.  Help  us  to  find  in  the  Son  of  God,  God  the 
Son,  and  all  that  our  hearts  ever  need. 

Do  thou  undertake  for  us  all  the  remainder  of  our  days.  What  are 
they  but  a  handful  ?  We  are  as  a  hireling  whose  day  is  dying  :  the  Lord 
help  us  to  count  with  miserly  care  all  the  remaining  moments,  and  may 
each  of  them  be  spent  in  thy  sight  and  fear.  Our  grave  is  already  dug, 
death  is  waiting  for  us,  behold  his  sword  is  lifted  up  in  the  air  and  it 
awaits  thy  bidding  that  it  may  fail.  Spare  us  yet  a  little  longer,  that  we 
may  serve  thee  with  a  more  glowing  love,  with  a  more  faithful  diligence, 
and  with  a  more  joyous  success.  The  Lord  help  us  in  all  things  to  be 
true,  honourable,  and  good,  pure  and  wise — the  Lord  set  his  seal  upon  us 
that  we  may  be  claimed  by  none  other.  In  the  day  when  the  wind  is 
strong,  do  thou  shelter  us  with  thine  own  hand,  in  the  time  when  the  road 
is  steep  and  difficult,  do  thou  surround  us  with  thy  defences  and  encour- 
age us  by  all  thy  tender  promises,  and  under  all  circumstances  may  thy 
will  be  our  joy,  in  thy  purposes  may  we  find  our  souls  rest,  and  hiding 
ourselves  in  the  sanctuary  of  thy  wisdom  and  goodness,  may  grace, 
mercy,  and  peace  fill  our  hearts  with  a  holy  calm. 

Pity  those  who  have  no  pity  upon  themselves,  whose  life  is  a  daily  self- 
laceration  and  self-loss  :  speak  to  the  man  who  is  far  away  from  the  light 
and  house  of  God,  and  bring  him  near  by  the  gracious  compulsion  of  love. 
Send  messages  to  our  sick  ones,  and  bid  the  most  timid  hope  again.  Thou 
knowest  what  messages  to  breathe  in  the  ear  that  is  closing  to  the  voices 
of  time,  thou  knowest  what  gospel  will  fall  most  gently  on  the  failing  and 
sinking  heart  of  man.  We  commit  all  our  loved  ones  to  thy  tender  care 
— whom  thou  watchest  are  well  watched,  thou  shepherdly,  fatherly, 
motherly  God. 

Have  in  Thy  holy  keeping  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray  :  the  bereaved 
and  the  desolated,  those  who  are  spending  their  first  Sabbath  as  widows 
and  orphans  and  lonely  ones,  who  are  feeling  the  cold  of  a  great  empti- 
ness, the  bitterness  of  all  that  death  can  bring  to  bear  upon  our  poor 
trembling  life.  Let  thy  consolations  abound  where  afflictions  have  had 
their  way,  and  let  all  thy  tenderest  solaces  spread  themselves  over  the 
lives  that  have  been  desolated  and  blackened  by  severe  bereavement. 

The  Lord  speak  comfortably  to  every  heart,  bring  back  the  old  man's 
youth,  speak  to  those  who  are  in  trouble,  saying  that  afflictions  do  not 
spring  out  of  the  dust.  Hear  the  glad  song  of  human  thankfulness,  listen 
to  the  bitter  reproaches  of  self  accusation,  and  hear  thou  in  Heaven  thy 
dwelling-place,  and  when  thou  hearest.  Lord,  forgive.     Amen. 


MATTHEW  VIII.     1-4. 


Matthevr  viii.     1-4. 

1.  When  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain  great  multitudes  fol- 
lowed him. 

2.  And  behold  there  came  a  leper  (Lev.  xiii,  xiv.)  and  worshipped  him, 
saying,  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean  (the  disease  was  not 
contagious). 

3.  And  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched  him,  saying,  I  will  ;  be 
thou  clean.     And  immediately  *  his  leprosy  was  cleansed. 

4.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  See  thou  tell  no  man  :  but  go  thy  way, 
show  thyself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift  that  Moses  commanded,  for 
a  testimony  unto  them. 

GREAT  ELOQUENCE  SUPPORTED  BY  GREAT 
BENEFICENCE. 

"TT  /"HEN  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain."  The 
V  V  great  speech  had  been  made,  the  grand  propagation  of 
new  ideas  had  begun,  a  wondrous  intellectual  apocalypse  had 
been  opened,  charming  and  dazzling  the  inner  vision  with  all  its 
mystery  of  separate  yet  blended  colours,  and  now  the  great  action  is 
commenced.  Herein  you  have  the  hemispheres  of  Christianity  : 
it  is  a  great  speech,  and  it  is  also  a  great  healing  :  it  is  an  eloquent 
word  and  it  is  an  eloquent  practice.  It  requires  the  mountain 
from  which  to  project  its  great  deliverances  of  an  intellectual  and 
spiritual  kind  :  it  does  not  exhaust  itself  by  that  exercise,  it  has 
not  only  strength  enough  left  to  come  down  the  mountain,  but 
having  descended  from  the  mountain  and  entered  into  the  city,  it 
has  strength,  sympathy,  patience,  tenderness,  and  every  other 
requisite  for  the  healing  and  the  redemption  of  man. 

Wonderful  is  that  word  in  the  sixty-first  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
wherein  Christ,  forecasting  the  ages,  says,  "  The  spirit  of  the 
Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  sent  me  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  meek,  he  hath  sent  me  to  the  broken-hearted,  to 
them  that  mourn,  and  to  those  that  are  in  captivity."  Jesus 
Christ  did  not  come  to  the  Scribes  and  to  the  Pharisees,  the  Son 

*  "Our  Lord  performed  his  first  miracles  immediately,  that  he  might 
not  appear  to  have  had  any  difficulty  in  performing  them  :  but  after  he 
had  established iis  aurbority,  he  frequently  interposed  a  delay  salutary  to 
men." — Bengel. 


THE  LEPER'S  APPEARANCE. 


of  man  did  not  come  to  our  intellectual  capacity  and  self-contented 
sufficiency  ;  he  came  to  the  meek  and  lowly  and  broken-hearted 
and  mourning  and  captive,  and  unless  we  be  in  one  or  other  of 
these  conditions  the  Son  of  God  will  speak  to  us  an  unknown 
tongue  ;  we  shall  not  recognise  one  syllable  in  all  his  gospel  ;  it 
will  shoot  over  our  heads  as  a  light  not  meant  for  our  darkness. 
But  if  we  be  in  the  condition  described  in  the  words  given  in  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah,  then  every  word  he  speaks  will  be  a  word  to 
us,  the  very  word  we  need,  the  only  word  as  it  would  seem  that 
the  heart  could  possibly  understand.  We  determine  by  our  moral 
condition  what  the  gospel  is  to  be  to  us.  Given  a  right  state  of 
heart,  and  every  hymn  will  lift  you  to  heaven,  every  petition  in 
the  prayer  will  broaden  and  gladden  your  life,  but  given  a  wrong 
state  of  the  heart,  proud,  self-sufficient,  self-contained,  unconscious 
of  guilt,  wanting  in  contrition  and  compunction,  and  God's  own 
word  would  be  to  you  an  idle  tale,  ill-pronounced  and  pointless. 

* '  When  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain,  great  multi- 
tudes followed  him,  and  behold  there  came  a  leper."  What  is 
the  meaning  of  this  startling  distinction  .?  Why  not  have  included 
the  leper  in  the  multitudes .''  Why  this  broad  plural  and  this 
sharp  singular  together  .?  It  is  always  so  :  both  these  relations  to 
Christ  are  right ;  man  never  knows  himself  really  and  truly  till  he 
has  been  both  part  of  a  multitude  and  set  aside  in  his  absolute  and 
untouched  personality.  You  say  you  can  read  the  Bible  at  home 
and  therefore  need  not  come  to  church.  No.  There  is  a 
church-reading,  and  you  cannot  have  it  at  home.  There  is  in  you 
a  multitudinous  element  which  can  only  be  recognised  and  satis- 
fied in  the  great  congregation.  There  is  also  another  side  to  your 
nature  :  you  must  separate  yourself  from  the  multitude  and  be 
nobody  but  yourself,  frightened  of  yourself,  so  much  yourself  as  to 
be  a  fear  and  a  terror  and  a  distress,  because  of  the  pressure  of 
your  want  and  the  infinite  hideousness  of  your  personal  transgres- 
sion. It  is  good  sometimes  to  be  in  the  religious  crowd  ;  we  are 
then  dispossessed  of  some  littlenesses  that  cling  to  the  best  of  us. 
The  mere  friction,  the  subtle  sympathy,  the  feeling  that  man  is 
larger  than  any  single  individual — these  have  a  peculiar  influence 
upon  the  rightly-constituted  mind,  giving  it  solemnity,  nobility, 
dignity,  setting  it  in  its  right  relation  and  perspective  and  colour. 


MATTHEW  VIII.     1-4. 


' '  Forsake  not  the  assembling  of  yourselves  together  as  the  manner 
of  some  is. ' ' 

Yet  there  came  a  leper.  The  leper  always  makes  room  for 
himself.  There  are  some  men  that  cannot  be  pluralised,  they 
have  a  whole  corner  to  themselves.  It  is  marvellous  into  what 
little  bulk  even  a  great  multitude  can  shrink  when  a  leper  comes 
near.  You  thought  there  was  no  room  before  ;  let  a  leper  come, 
and  the  space  on  which  the  multitude  can  stand  is  much  lessened. 
Every  one  of  us  is  a  leper,  but  not  yet  known  to  be  such.  You 
would  not  be  allowed  to  sit  where  you  are  now  if  your  real  charac- 
ter was  known.  Every  man  must  feel  his  own  leprosy  and  go 
with  his  own  prayer,  and  pierce  the  multitude,  and  get  through  it 
to  have  his  own  interview  with  the  Son  of  God.  We  are  not 
saved  in  great  swelling  crowds  ;  we  must  go  one  by  one,  and  each 
state  his  own  case  in  his  own  words  to  the  only  healer  of  human 
life.  I  need  not  teach  you  a  prayer  :  lepers  are  mighty  in  prayer. 
Leprosy  kindles  wit,  leprosy  sharpens  a  man's  tongue  into  a  keen 
accent,  leprosy  teaches  brief  speech,  but  ringing  and  telling,  with- 
out one  waste  word,  ear-piercing  and  making  God  himself  hear. 
Leprosy  batters  upon  heaven's  door  with  a  violence  that  God 
never  neglects. 

A  sweet  prayer,  a  full,  tender  prayer  is  the  leper's — "  Lord,  if 
thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean."  Go  and  stand  beside  the 
publican,  that  other  leper,  and  hear  his  prayer — "  God  be  merci- 
ful unto  me  a  sinner."  Go  beside  that  cross  where  the  better 
thief  dies,  and  hear  his  prayer — '  *  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou 
comest  into  thy  kingdom. ' '  A  prayer  in  a  sentence  jou  have  in 
each  case  ;  not  a  long  argument,  and  yet  you  could  sooner  add  a 
beam  to  the  sun  than  you  could  add  one  touch  of  beauty  to  this 
prayer.  The  leper  was  no  literary  man  ;  he  was  not  skilled  in 
phrase-cutting,  and  in  word-setting  ;  he  was  no  clever  lapidary, 
cunning  in  giving  facets  to  words,  that  they  might  catch  the  light 
and  throw  it  back  again  most  beautifully — his  only  teacher  was  his 
heart.  When  will  men  listen  to  that  great  teacher,  the  hot  heart, 
wild  in  misery,  mad  with  despair,  almost  in  hell  because  of  self- 
compunction  .?  There  are  times  when  our  life  does  not  sharpen 
itself  into  this  most  leprous  necessity,  and  at  those  times  we  need 
longer  prayers.     Then  we  may  need  the  help  of  our  friends  to 


THE  LEPER'S  PRAYER. 


write  prayers  for  us  or  to  pray  with  us.  There  are  times  when  we 
want  longer  communion  with  God  ;  when  he  says,  "  Come  up  to 
the  mountain  early  in  the  morning  and  meet  me  on  the  top." 
And  when  we  do  not  leave  the  mountain  till  the  sun  has  just  light 
enough  in  it  to  light  us  down  the  long  stairway  again,  then  we 
may  need  many  words,  and  beautiful,  quivering  with  sacred  life, 
glittering  with  celestial  beauty,  musical  with  heavenly  tunefulness 
— wondrous  words,  almost  divine,  as  if  they  would  totalise  them- 
selves into  one  verb.  You  have  had  such  experience,  you  have 
been  part  of  a  multitude,  and  you  have  been  suddenly  turned  out 
of  it  and  made  to  stand  alone  before  the  Christ.  Forsake  not  the 
assembling  of  yourselves  together,  let  me  say  again  ;  and  let  me 
further  add,  have  hours  and  half-hours  in  which  there  is  nobody 
with  you  in  the  sanctuary,  when  you  are  alone  in  it,  yet  not 
alone,  for  the  Father  is  with  you. 

The  leper  teaches  us  a  beautiful  prayer.  We  will  omit  his  own 
personal  petition  and  put  in  our  own — his  introduction  will  do 
for  any  prayer.  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt."  Every  man  has  to  fill  up 
the  form  with  his  own  cry.  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make 
me  strong  :  I  am  weak,  I  am  a  child  of  infirmity  ;  my  bones 
ache,  my  knees  smite  one  another  with  feebleness  and  terror  ;  I 
hardly  live,  my  life  is  a  burden  or  a  pain — if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst 
make  me  strung.  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  happy. 
I  am  hardly  ever  happy  ;  I  dare  not  be  happy,  for  fear  a  moment's 
gladness  should  bring  back  the  pain  with  increased  poignancy.  I 
am  as  those  who  are  afflicted  and  who  dare  not  sleep  because  the 
waking  again  is  intolerable  agony.  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst 
make  me  rich — nevertheless,  not  my  will  but  thine  be  done. 

Sorrow  turns  instinctively  to  the  supernatural.  I  would  not 
listen  to  a  strong,  robust,  rude  man  talking  to  me  about  the  su- 
pernatural. He  knows  nothing  about  it ;  he  never  needed  it  so  far 
as  his  bodily  sensitiveness  or  necessity  is  concerned.  Go  and 
argue  with  the  leper  ;  tell  him  that  the  supernatural  is  not  accessi- 
ble, tell  him  to  go  to  the  ordinary  physician,  reason  with  him 
upon  the  vanity  and  the  uselessness  of  religious  expectation.  Will 
he  hear  your  prating  ^  What  is  it  that  breaks  through  every  argu- 
ment in  the  time  of  its  intolerable  fire,  its  pain,  its  agony,  its 
heart-ache  ?  Go  and  tell  the  mother  who  is  just  lowering  her  one 
little  child  into  the  grave  not  to  be  religious,  and  not  to  say,  ' '  My 


MATTHEW  VIII.     1-4. 


God,  my  Father  ;' '  tell  her  to  turn  away  her  tear-filled  eyes  from 
the  blue  heavens,  for  there  is  no  one  there  who  cares  for  her 
agony  :  fill  her  ear  with  atheistic  polysyllables,  and  drag  her  back 
from  the  altar- — ^and  see  what  intellectual  conquests  you  can  win. 
Feeling  is  sometimes  the  very  inspiration  of  life.  Argument  can 
touch  but  a  very  little  portion  of  me.  Whatever  leaves  the  heart 
untouched  is  barren,  vexatious,  and  worse  than  useless. 

Herein  is  a  lesson  to  the  young  and  strong  of  a  kind  that  cannot 
now  be  very  persistently  urged.  A  child,  thank  God,  is  all  laugh- 
ter, and  I  would  not  punctuate  its  laugh  with  a  single  tear.  Let 
the  child  laugh.  The  strong  man,  who  never  had  a  head-ache 
or  heart-ache,  who  never  knew  what  it  was  to  toss  upon  the  bed 
hour  by  hour,  calling  and  crying  for  sleep, — what  can  ^^  say  to 
anybody  ?  Ask  the  fat  ox  the  way  to  heaven,  and  it  will  tell  you 
as  soon  as  can  such  a  man  say  one  true  word  about  things  that  are 
above  the  clouds. 

Sorrow  never  came  into  the  world  with  the  will  of  Christ. 
Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  iiie  clean.  Certainly.  Then 
leprosy  never  came  with  his  will,  sympathetically.  Whenever  you 
see  a  grave  dug  in  the  cold  earth,  it  is  something  done  against 
God's  will.  He  never  meant  this  green  earth  to  have  its  bosom 
ripped  that  his  children  might  be  thrust  into  its  darkness.  We 
have  put  the  earth  to  new  uses  ;  we  have  spoiled  God's  garden, 
and  we  have  srown  his  flowers  to  decorate  our  dead.  No  tear  ever 
comes  into  our  eye  with  God's  will.  And  yet  observe  that  I  put 
in  the  word  sympathetically^  and  did  so  with  a  distinct  purpose, 
because  leprosy,  sorrow,  death,  are  here  with  God's  will  judicially 
■ — they  are  all  his  servants.  He  says  in  his  kind  heaven,  where  the 
summers  are  all  stored  for  the  earth,  "  I  must  not  withdraw  the 
leprosy,  or  they  will  go  mad-  I  must  not  kill  the  fiery  flying  ser- 
pent, or  they  -will  swear  with  a  more  determined  loudness.  I 
must  not  withdraw  the  plagut,  Jever,  cholera,  small-pox,  blight 
upon  the  wheat  fields  and  olive  >ards,  or  they  will  curse  the  night 
through  as  well  as  the  day.  1  must  keep  the  constables  on  the 
ground,  I  must  thicken  my  policemen  as  to  their  numbers  or 
quicken  them  as  to  their  vigilance,  or  that  crowd  of  men  upon 
yonder  little  black  earth  will  all  go  to  perdition." 

So  these  afflictions,  leprosies,  and  divers  diseases  are  God's 
constables,   God's   judicial   sentences,  God's    safeguards,    part  of 


lo  THE  COMPASSIONATE  PHYSICIAN. 


God's  disciplinary  forces.  Do  you  suppose  you  can  drink  every 
night  and  awake  in  the  morning  with  a  clear  head  ?  God  puts 
something  into  your  cup  to  prevent  that.  Do  you  suppose  you 
can  plunder  and  defile  and  then  be  as  much  at  rest  as  if  you  had 
sacrificed  and  prayed  .?  God  takes  care  to  put  a  dart  through  your 
liver,  to  touch  you  with  an  argument,  and  with  the  only  argument 
you  can  understand.  He  does  not  meet  you  in  the  morning  as 
your  mother  does,  with  a  remonstrance,  he  meets  you  with  a  dart, 
he  transfixes  you  with  a  spear,  and  says,  "  He  thatsinneth  against 
me  wrongeth  his  own  soul,  spoils  the  fine  membrane,  twists  the 
holy  aspiration,  diminishes  the  divine  capacity,  debases  the  no- 
blest elements  of  his  manhood."  You  wondered  how  it  was  that 
your  hand  shook  so  when  you  wrote  the  letter.  It  was  because  of 
the  debauch.  It  is  not  because  you  are  growing  an  old  man,  but 
because  you  are  a  bad  one  ! 

' '  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand  and  touched  him. ' '  Who  else  dare 
touch  the  leper.?  The  touch  was  death.  "And  the  leper  in 
whom  the  plague  is,  his  clothes  shall  be  rent  and  his  head  bared, 
and  he  shall  put  a  covering  upon  his  upper  lip,  and  shall  oxy, 
'  Unclean,  unclean. '  All  the  days  wherein  the  plague  shall  be  in 
him,  he  shall  be  defiled  :  he  is  unclean,  he  shall  dwell  alone — 
without  the  camp  shall  be  his  habitation."  In  the  light  of  these 
old  words  read  the  text — "  He  touched  him."  The  sunbeam  can 
touch  contaminations  without  defilement — who  can  touch  pitch 
and  not  be  defiled  ?  Blessed  Saviour — when  did  he  say  "  No"  to 
any  prayer  of  the  leprous,  the  blind,  the  broken-hearted,  the 
bereaved,  the  penitent.?  It  was  not  in  him  to  say  "  No"  to  any 
of  these.  Many  a  ' '  No' '  he  gave  in  reply  to  Scribe  and  Pharisee 
and  pompous  suppliant  who  brought  his  own  answer  as  well  as 
his  own  prayer  :  he  never  said  "  No"  to  me  when  I  said  "  God 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  He  always  gave  me  a  new  sheet  of 
paper,  and  said,  ' '  Try  again  :  do  not  blot  this  one,  or  you  may 
never  have  another. ' '  I  have  taken  it  and  blotted  it  all  over  and 
gone  back  with  the  old  prayer,  and  got  another  sheet  of  paper, 
pure  as  the  holiness  that  gave  it.  These  are  my  reasons  for  believ- 
ing in  Christ.  He  is  not  the  Son  of  God  to  me  because  some 
grammarian  has  forced  him  to  that  high  eminence  ;  he  is  God 
the  Son  because  he  has  healed  a  heart  no  other  physician  could 
touch,  and  cleansed  a  sin  which  would  have  defiled  and  polluted 


MATTHEW  VIII.     1-4. 


every  river  that  ever  flowed  through  the  earth.  When  the  soul 
has  these  experiences  of  the  Saviour  he  does  not  need  to  have  his 
Deity  buttressed  by  any  grammatical  patronage. 

Mark  the  wonderful  consistency  in  this  Man's  procedure.  We 
find  him  saying  in  his  sermon,  ' '  It  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old 
time,  but  I  say  unto  you."  Now  in  his  action  we  find  him  re- 
peating the  same  form.  "  It  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old  time, 
Thou  shalt  not  touch  the  leper,  but  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  touch 
him."  He  separates  himself  from  others,  yet  he  is  consistent  in 
the  reasons  of  that  separation. 

"Tell  no  man. "  Jesus  Christ  did  not  think  any  miracle  worth 
preaching.  We  trouble  ourselves  about  the  miracles,  we  ask  our- 
selves hard  questions  about  them,  we  go  to  the  length  of  writing 
expensive  books  about  them.  Jesus  Christ  made  nothing  of  them. 
* '  As  for  the  miracle, ' '  he  said,  ' '  do  not  name  it.  If  you  men- 
tion it  at  all,  tell  it  in  your  own  house,  and  do  not  let  the  news 
get  beyond  your  own  circle.  I  came  not  to  convert  the  world  by 
miracles  ;  do  not  encourage  the  idea  that  salvation  is  part  of  a 
romantic  scheme,  one  of  a  set  of  marvellous  phenomena.  I  have 
come  for  other  work  :  not  to  dazzle  the  imagination  by  the  per- 
formance of  miracles,  but  to  charm  and  save  the  heart  by  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  See  thou  tell  no  man  so 
far  as  the  miracles  are  concerned  ;  so  far  as  the  doctrine  is  con- 
cerned go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature. ' '  We  have  taken  hold  of  this  kingdom  of  heaven  by  the 
wrong  end.  We  meet  in  classes  to  discuss  the  miracles, — we  poor 
cold  pieces  of  iron  in  which  there  is  no  fire,  have  met  to  consider 
the  constitution  of  the  sun.  When  will  we  be  wise,  and  think  not 
of  Christ's  miracles  but  of  Christ' s  doctrines }  When  will  we  think 
of  what  he  came  to  do  with  regard  to  the  poor  heart  ?  That  is 
the  central  business  and  that  is  the  supreme  joy  of  the  Church. 

So  then  the  sermon  is  already  being  turned  to  advantage  by  the 
people.  '  *  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you. ' '  Did  the  leper  over- 
hear that }  Was  it  told  to  the  leper  by  some  kind  friend  t  Did  he 
say,  "  I  will  put  this  great  Speaker  to  the  test — he  said,  *  Ask,  and 
it  shall  be  given, '  I  will  ask  him. ' '  He  asked  and  he  received. 
Now  the  other  side  must  also  be  consistent.  Christ  also  said, 
*'  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets  : 


THE   WILL  MADE  RIGHT. 


I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  Jesus  Christ  says  to  the 
leper,  "  You  have  asked  me  in  effect  to  prove  the  words,  '  Ask, 
and  it  shall  be  given  you  :'  now  I  must  ask  you  to-  prove  the 
words,  '  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law  but  to  fulfil  :'  so  go, 
show  thyself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift  that  Moses  com- 
manded." A  wondrous  and  self-confirming  consistency  marks 
this  whole  revelation,  and  those  who  have  studied  it  most  pro- 
foundly and  lovingly  are  most  deeply  impressed  with  the  perfect- 
ness  of  the  literal  and  moral  consistency  of  God's  book. 

A  wonderful  revelation,  then,  is  now  before  us.  This  suffering 
and  its  removal  are  to  be  looked  at  in  the  light  of  two  antagonistic 
wills.  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean."  There 
the  creature's  will  becomes  right.  The  moment  the  will  of  the 
creature  becomes  right,  Jesus  says,  "I  will:  be  thou  clean." 
Your  will  is  wrong — trouble  not  yourselves  with  little  intellectual 
inquiries  and  difficulties  and  enigmas  ;  it  is  a  waste  of  time,  it  is  a 
mortal  delusion  on  your  part  to  suppose  that  you  would  be  a 
good  man  and  a  holy  saint  if  some  little  intellectual  cobwebs  were 
taken  out  of  your  head.  Your  will  is  wrong.  "  Marvel  not  that 
I  say  unto  you,  Ye  must  be  born  again."  When  your  will  is 
right,  you  will  find  that  God's  will  has  always  been  on  your  side, 
on  the  side  of  your  redeeming  and  healing  and  perfecting.  He 
waits  to  be  gracious  :  he  can  do  nothing  with  a  crooked  will,  he 
can  do  nothing  with  a  perverse  will,  he  can  do  nothing  with  a  cor- 
rupt will,  he  can  do  nothing  with  a  selfish  will.  When  we  come 
to  him  and  say,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean," 
thus  putting  ourselves  into  his  hands  simply,  lovingly,  absolute 
ly,  his  answer  is  immediate  and  complete.  It  is  not  thereforu 
your  intellect  only  that  must  be  illumined  and  rectified  :  the  work 
must  be  deeper  :  you  must  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit ; 
you  must  be  washed  in  the  laver  of  regeneration  :  "  Marvel  not 
that  I  say  unto  you,  Ye  must  be  born  again." 

This  redemption  is  not  a  question  of  mere  intellectual  satisfac- 
tion, still  less  of  intellectual  excitement  or  delight  :  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  the  will,  the  heart,  the  very  source  and  spring  of  life, 
The  work  is  not  superficial,  but  profound  :  the  work  is  not  artifi- 
cial,  but  vital  :  the  work  is  not  external,  but  internal — after  being 
internal  it  expresses  itself  in  all  exterior  dignity  and  loveliness. 


XXX. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  desire  is  that  we  may  put  our  trust  in  thee,  then 
shall  our  life  be  safe,  and  our  hope  shall  be  as  a  light  that  cannot  be 
blown  out.  We  have  trusted  ourselves,  and  to  ourselves  we  have  com- 
mitted perjury  ;  we  have  made  no  vow  that  has  not  been  broken.  Behold 
we  stand  before  thee  as  criminals,  without  defence  and  without  covering 
— we  would  now  say  again  in  thy  hearing  and  in  thy  strength,  "  Lord, 
increase  our  faith."  The  just  shall  live  by  faith  :  we  walk  by  faith,  not 
by  sight — Lord,  we  believe,  help  thou  our  unbelief.  Let  our  unbelief 
itself  be  a  cry  unto  thee  for  other  help,  let  our  poverty  be  a  prayer  and 
our  want  a  desire  and  our  helplessness  a  reason  for  thy  speedy  coming  to 
us. 

We  have  come  with  a  hymn  of  praise,  for  thy  mercy  has  prevented  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  and  has  lingered  with  us  all  through  the  time  of  the 
shining  of  the  stars.  In  our  waking  and  in  our  sleeping  thy  benediction 
has  stretched  around  our  life,  our  uprising  and  our  downsitting  thou  hast 
guarded,  thou  hast  beset  us  behind  and  before,  and  laid  thine  hand  upon 
us  :  thy  mercies  have  been  a  multitude,  and  thy  tender  compassions 
beyond  our  power  to  name.  We  are  guilty  :  thou  didst  give  us  a  white 
robe,  purer  than  the  snow,  we  return  it  to  thee  to-day  unfit  to  be  looked 
upon  by  thine  eyes.  Yet  thou  art  plenteous  in  forgiveness  and  thy  par- 
dons are  a  great  multitude,  yea,  more  than  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  thou 
dost  cast  our  sin  behind  thee  and  make  it  as  far  from  us  as  the  east  is 
from  the  west,  and  thy  delight  is  to  relieve  from  the  burden  and  the  sting 
of  sin.  Come  to  us  through  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  Mary,  Son  of  Man,  Son 
of  God,  God  the  Son,  the  one  Priest,  the  only  Sacrifice,  the  infinite  Medi- 
ator, and  in  coming  through  him  thou  wilt  come  with  all  thy  mercy.  Thy 
righteousness  and  thy  judgment  will  not  thunder  against  us,  but  thy  gen- 
tleness will  make  us  great. 

Hear  us  when  we  cry  for  thy  presence  throughout  our  whole  life.  We 
would  not  be  one  day  without  thee,  we  would  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being  in  God,  we  would  find  thy  truth  and  eat  it,  we  would  sit  down  at 
thy  banquet  and  drive  away  the  hunger  of  the  soul  by  the  riches  of  thy 
provision  ;  we  would  study  thy  truth  with  a  keen,  clear  eye,  and  receive 
it  into  an  open  and  honest  heart,  and  repeat  it  in  an  obedient  and  loyal 
will.  Thou  hast  taught  us  these  great  prayers — verily  they  are  not  ours, 
they  are  the  Lord's  prayers.'  Once  we  loved  the  darkness  and  pined  for 
the  desert  and  the  rocks,  and  now  we  love  the  light  and  desire  to  live  in 


14  PR  A  YER. 

the  garden  of  God.  Increase  in  us  the  aversion  which  holiness  feels  foi 
sin,  increase  in  us  all  sacred  thirst  and  hunger,  that  our  desire  may  be 
after  God  in  great  vehemence  and  expectation,  and  satisfy  us  early  with 
thy  lovingkindness  and  plentifully  bless  us  with  thy  Holy  Spirit.  We 
would  love  the  truth,  we  would  see  somewhat  of  its  infinitude,  we  would 
see  our  own  littleness  and  mark  duly  the  boundaries  by  which  we  are  im- 
prisoned, and  then  with  the  eye  of  our  love  and  hope  we  would  look 
beyond  into  the  yet  unexplored  and  unknown  universe  of  God.  Thus 
would  our  religious  ambition  become  sacred  as  a  sacrifice  and  our  desire 
be  as  a  purpose  that  cannot  be  revoked. 

We  commend  one  another  to  thy  gentle  care.  Leave  none  without  a 
blessing.  Let  the  old  man  renew  his  youth,  and  on  this  opening  summer 
day  recall  the  spring  of  his  gladdest  life.  Speak  to  the  busy  man,  lest  he 
should  forget  eternity  in  consequence  of  his  devotion  to  dying  time — on 
the  young  let  the  dew  of  thy  blessing  and  the  light  of  thy  sanctification 
rest  all  the  days  of  their  lives.  Heal  the  broken-hearted,  dispossess  those 
who  are  tormented  with  devils,  curb  the  unholy  passion,  and  finally  de- 
stroy it.  Hear  the  prayers  that  cannot  be  spoken,  that  are  too  sacred  for 
words,  that  go  up  to  Heaven  in  pleading,  yearning  sighs,  and  answer  such 
according  to  the  tenderness  of  thine  own  grace. 

Re-ordain  every  minister  of  the  gospel,  consecrate  him  afresh  to  his 
holy  work,  bind  him  with  sevenfold  cords  to  the  one  altar  that  is  alone 
worth  serving.  Upon  all  the  Churches  of  the  redeemed,  by  whatsoever 
names  known  and  disfigured  among  men,  let  grace,  mercy,  and  peace 
constantly  abide.  Bring  in  the  day  when  we  shall  see  that  all  truth  ripens 
into  love,  and  that  in  so  far  as  we  fall  short  of  love  we  fall  short  of  truth 

The  Lord  give  us  the  blessing  we  most  need  ;  the  light  appropriate  to 
the  day,  the  music  that  will  bring  all  our  circumstances  into  happy  con- 
sonance with  his  own  purposes.  Send  messages  from  the  sanctuary  to 
the  sick  chambers,  to  the  lonely  room,  to  the  dark  prison,  to  the  troubled 
sea,  to  our  wanderers  in  foreign  lands,  to  those  further  wanderers,  who 
follow  the  devil's  lure.     Amen. 

Matthew  viii.    5-13. 

5.  And  when  Jesus  was  entered  into  Capernaum,  there  came  unto  him 
a  centurion  (captain  of  loo  loot-soldiers)  beseeching  him. 

6.  And  saying.  Lord,  my  servant  lieth  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  griev- 
ously tormented. 

7.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  T  will  come  and  heal  him.  ("  He  de- 
clares himself  ready  to  come  to  the  Centurion! s  servant :  he  does  not 
promise  that  he  will  do  so  to  the  nobleman  s  son.") 

8.  The  centurion  answered  and  said.  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou 
shouldest  come  under  my  roof  :  but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my  servant 
shall  be  healed. 

9.  For  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under  me  ;  and  I 


MATTHEW  VIII.     5-13.  15 


say  to  this  man,  Go,  and  he  goeth  ;  and  to  another,  Come,  and  he  com* 
eth  ;  and  to  my  servant.  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it. 

ID.  When  Jesus  heard  it,  he  marvelled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed, 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel. 

11.  And  I  say  unto  you.  That  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west 
(the  whole  earth),  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

12.  But  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  out  into  outer  dark- 
ness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

13.  And  Jesus  said  unto  the  centurion,  Go  thy  way  ;  and  as  thou  hast 
believed,  so  be  it  done  unto  thee.  And  his  servant  was  healed  in  the  self- 
sajne  hour. 

THE  HUMAN  SYMPATHY  OP  CHRIST. 

"  A  ND  when  Jesus  was  entered  into  Capernaum,  there  came 
XA.  unto  him  a  centurion,  beseeching  him."  Towns  are 
differently  excited  by  different  visitors.  If  Beethoven  were  to 
come  to  London,  all  the  music  of  the  metropolis  would  vibrate 
with  delight  and  expectation  and  hope.  If  some  great  athlete 
were  to  visit  the  metropolis,  all  persons  interested  in  athletics 
would  be  instantly  filled  with  a  desire  to  see  the  performance. 
When  Jesus  Christ  went  into  a  town  all  the  sick  people,  all  the 
broken-hearted,  the  helpless,  and  the  weary  felt  a  thrill  of  expec- 
tation and  hope,  and  they  were  almost  bettered  by  the  very  news 
that  he  was  coming.  Think  of  a  rhan  entering  a  town  whose 
very  presence  sends  a  gospel  to  the  broken-hearted — that  is  the 
man  I  want  to  see.  I  could  listen  to  the  musician  for  a  while,  I 
could  applaud  the  acrobat  for  a  moment  or  two,  I  would  withhold 
the  palm  from  no  man  who  had  won  it,  but  when  I  had  passed 
through  the  whole  rank  and  file  of  those  who  had  entertained,  in- 
structed, and  amused  me,  I  should  want  every  day  to  have  with 
me  the  man  that  could  touch  my  afflictiofts,  and  bear  my  diseases, 
and  heal  my  wounded  heart.  I  would  say  to  him,  "  Abide  with 
me,  the  day  is  far  spent,  but  it  cannot  die  while  the  light  of  thine 
eye  is  in  the  house  ;  abide  with  me." 

This  is  how  Jesus  Christ  endears  himself  so  much  to  my  heart, 
and  how  it  is  that  my  love  for  him  is  a  love  passing  the  love  of 
women,  and  how  it  is  that  I  cannot  be  torn  away  from  his  side. 
It  is  not  that  I  am  puzzled  by  his  genius,  thrilled  by  his  mighty 
miracles,  astounded  by  much  that  is  wondrous  in  himself  and  his 


\b  THE  CENTURION'S  ANNOUNCEMENT. 


«vorks  ;  but  because  he  himself  took  our  infirmities  and  bare  our 
sicknesses,  and  goes  up  into  the  sick-chamber  though  a  leper  be 
in  it,  and  though  a  pestilence  too  foul  for  my  mother  to  face  be 
filling  the  chamber  with  its  fatal  contagion.  This  is  the  Christ  to 
whom  I  call  you.  Know  him  by  the  depth  and  tenderness  and 
incessancy  of  his  sympathy  and  love,  and  fall  down  before  him, 
not  because  forced  to  your  knees  by  some  grammatical  and  exeget- 
ical  pressure,  but  because  constrained  to  that  worshipful  act  by 
an  infinite  understanding  of  your  own  heart,  and  an  ineffable  and 
redeeming  sympathy  with  every  emotion  and  passion    of  your  life. 

"  There  came  unto  him  a  centurion,  beseeching  him,  and  say- 
ing, Lord,  my  servant  lieth  at  home  si'ck  of  the  palsy,  grievously 
tormented. "  A  servant  at  home — what  an  extraordinary  and  anti- 
quated conjunction  of  terms,  "There  came  a  centurion,  saying. 
Lord,  my  servant  lieth  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tor- 
mented. ' '  That  is  not  a  prayer — there  is  no  request  in  that  form 
of  words,  it  is  a  mere  piece  of  intelligence.  See  the  character  of 
the  man  in  the  form  of  his  approach.  Is  there  no  prayer  in  the 
eye,  is  there  no  agony  in  the  look,  is  there  no  supplication  in  the 
/one  P  What  can  the  printers  do  but  catch  the  bare  words  and 
put  them  into  cold  black  ink  }  This  is  how  it  is  that  the  written 
page  is  not  the  spoken  discourse  ;  it  lacks  the  fire  that  glowed  in 
the  face,  the  inquiry  that  sharpened  the  vision  of  the  eye,  the 
music  and  the  eloquence  that  made  the  tone  pierce  the  hearer's 
heart  like  a  prayer.  Why  you,  man  of  few  words,  gifted  with  rare 
silence,  often  complaining  that  you  have  no  language,  could  pray 
like  this  !  Prayer  is  the  lifting  of  an  eye,  prayer  is  the  falling  of 
a  tear,  prayer  is  the  outdarting  of  an  arm  as  if  it  would  snatch  a 
blessing  from  on  high.  You  do  not  need  long  sentences,  intricate 
expressions,  elaborate  and  innumerable  phrases  ;  a  look  may  be  a 
battle  half  won.  "  According  to  thy  faith,  so  be  it  unto  thee." 
You  may  pray  now,  or  in  the  crowded  street,  or  in  the  busiest 
scene — you  can  always  have  a  word  with  God — you  can  always 
wing  a  whisper  to  the  skies.  Pray  without  ceasing.  Live  in  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  let  your  life  be  one  grand  desire,  Godward  and 
heavenward,  then  use  as  many  words  or  as  few  as  you  please, 
your  heart  is  itself  a  prayer,  and  your  look  a  holy  expectation. 

Beautiful  is  it  to  see  the  Pagan  come  into  Christian  worship. 
He  does  not  know  what  to  do.     A  trained  soldier  and  a  man  in 


MATTHEW   VIII.     5-13..  17 

authority,  he  wishes  to  be  respectful  and  yet  he  does  not  know 
what  is  proper  to  the  new  situation.  He  therefore  beseechingly 
states  the  case.  It  is  beautiful  to  see  one  unaccustomed  to  the 
form  of  worship  in  any  place,  enter  into  the  strange  sanctuary  and 
look  inquiringly  round  to  see  what  has  to  be  done  next.  There 
is  no  wish  to  come  into  collision  with  the  established  usages  of  the 
place.  There  is,  indeed,  a  lingering  liking  for  the  way  at  home, 
but  a  willing  disposition  to  accept  new  forms  and  methods. 
There  is  something  pathetic  in  such  ignorance,  and  something  in- 
structive in  such  inquiry.-  But  see  the  centurion,  a  man,  a 
stranger,  a  Pagan,  one  far  off,  coming  to  state  his  servant's  case, 
and  to  leave  it  with  a  beseeching  look  and  a  beseeching  tone — why 
that  is  to  receive  education  in  an  uncertificated  school,  it  is  to 
receive  a  hmt  from  lips  uncircumcised — that  is  to  learn  from  those 
who  themselves  are  ignorant  of  the  subtle  and  peculiar  methods 
adopted  under  new  circumstances. 

Jesus  will  be  puzzled  by  this  new  form  of  approach.  Having 
heard  about  the  servant  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  he  will  say, 
"  Well,  what  then  .'"  He  will  teach  this  man  how  to  pray,  he 
will  say,  "  If  you  want  any  favour  from  me  you  must  approach  me 
in  certain  form  or  I  cannot  hear  you. ' '  He  understood  the  heart 
— he  meets  the  suppliant  half  way.  Do  you  suppose  that  your 
ladder-prayer  can  reach  the  stars  }  It  only  touches  God  because 
God  comes  down  to  let  it  touch  him.  Heaven  and  the  heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain  him,  yet  he  comes  down  to  the  habita- 
tions of  men  and  listens  for  their  prayers  as  if  those  prayers  filled 
the  universe. 

How  does  Jesus  Christ  adapt  himself  to  this  man' s  approach .-' 
He  meets  the  man  in  his  own  spirit.  Without  hearing  the  request 
he  says,  "  I  will  come  and  heal  him. "  That  verse  makes  me  a 
believer  in  the  deity  of  Christ  :  I  need  no  other  proof.  If  he  said 
that,  he  is  God  enough  for  me.  Not  "  I  will  come  and  inquire 
into  the  case,  I  will  come  and  see  whether  anything  can  be  done 
to  mitigate  this  awful  mischief  :  I  can  sympathize  with  you,  if  I 
can  go  no  further,"  but  with  the  calmness  of  the  fiat  that  arched 
the  heavens  and  lit  its  lamps,  he  says,  "I  will  come  and  hear 
him."  The  people  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine,  because  he 
taught  them  as  one  having  authority.     They  are  astounded  at  his 


l8  CHRIST  NOT  A   SPECIALIST 


word,  for  he  speaks  of  disease  as  one  having  infinite  power. 
Last  Sunday  we  saw  him  touching  a  leper,  and  heard  him  saying, 
"  Be  thou  clean  ;"  to-day  our  lesson  brings  before  us  a  man  sick 
of  the  palsy,  grievously  tormented,  and  Jesus  Christ  says,  * '  I  will 
come  and  heal  him. ' '  Then  he  was  no  specialist.  Properly  we 
have  amongst  ourselves  now;  special  studies  of  special  cases.  One 
man  undertakes  the  brain,  another  the  heart,  another  the  blood, 
it  may  be,  another  the  bones  and  joints.  This  is  right,  amongst 
ourselves  ;  for  probably  hardly  any  one  man  has  the  time,  even  if 
he  had  the  capacity,  to  master  with  sufficient  adequateness  all  the 
details  and  necessities  of  our  wondrous  bodily  frame.  But  Jesus 
Christ  said  to  the  leper,  "  Be  thou  clean,"  to  the  man  sick  of 
the  palsy,  grievously  tormented,  "  I  will  come  and  heal  him." 
When  he  went  into  Peter's  house  and  saw  his  wife's  mother  laid 
and  sick  of  the  fever,  he  touched  her  hand  and  the  fever  left  her, 
he  put  out  the  fire  with  his  touch.  He  is  no  specialist,  he  has  not 
a  necromancer's  power  over  any  one  department  of  human  life  or 
human  suffering.  His  healing  was  fundamental  and  all-inclusive. 
He  made  the  well-head  pure,  and  the  flowing  stream  was  as 
pure  as  the  fountain  whence  it  flowed. 

It  is  so  in  spiritual  matters.  There  is  not  in  the  Church  a 
doctor  who  cures  lying,  and  another  who  makes  a  special  study  of 
drunkenness,  and  a  third  who  is  gifted  with  peculiar  ability  in  deal- 
ing with  persons  of  felonious  disposition.  There  is  one  Mediator 
between  God  and  man  :  he  makes  the  heart  right,  and  then  all  the 
accidental  and  local  diseases,  with  all  their  train  of  ever-varying 
symptoms,  are  cleansed  and  utterly  expelled.  Thus  in  the  Church 
of  Christ  we  have  no  special  means  for  special  cases,  as  contra-dis- 
tinguished from  the  general  means  at  our  disposal  for  the  univer- 
sal disease  and  apostasy.  There  is  one  word  for  all,  one  healing 
for  all.  When  you  talk  of  your  follies  and  peculiar  sins  and  char- 
acteristic slips  and  individual  passions,  these  are  but  symptoms  of 
a  grand  moral  ailment  :  the  whole  head  is  sick,  the  whole  heart 
faint,  and  the  remedy  must  be  vital  and  fundamental,  not  a  suc- 
cessful playing  with  accidental  symptoms,  but  an  appeal  to  the 
heart,  a  cleansing  of  the  inner  nature.      "  Ye  must  be  born  again. " 

Whatever  your  complaint  is,  of  mind,  body,  or  estate,  you  may 
take  it  to  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  are  not  doing  well  in  business,  go 
and  tell  him  about   it  :  if  you  are  afflicted  in  any  bodily  way,  go 


MATTHEW  VIII.     5-13.  19 

and  state  the  case  to  him  and  leave  it  in  his  hands  ;  if  you  be  pos- 
sessed with  devils  and  grievously  tormented  in  your  heart,  go  and 
state  the  case  to  the  Son  of  God.  Go  and  tell  Jesus  everything. 
Do  not  tell  him  what  answer  to  give  in  return.  I  like  every  day  to 
have  a  long  talk  with  him  in  the  streets,  or  in  the  house,  or  any- 
where, just  telling  him  what  I  did  yesterday,  and  what  a  fool  I 
was  for  doing  it,  and  asking  him  to  keep  me  this  day  without  sin, 
and  putting  my  whole  broken  life  into  his  care,  that  he  may  teach 
me  that  the  part  is  not  the  whole,  and  that  there  are  purposes  in 
his  will  and  providence  which  I  can  neither  comprehend  nor  con- 
trol. He  always  heals  me  with  rest  and  with  added  faith.  The 
thorn  remains,  the  cruel  sting  goes  deeper,  the  fire  licks  up  further 
blood,  and  yet  there  is  an  inner  healing,  a  sacred  rest,  and  loving 
trust  in  God.  «^ 

The  centurion  having  heard  the  reply  of  Jesus  Christ,  said, 
"  Lord,  1  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come  under  my 
roof  ;  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under  me  : 
and  I  say  to  this  man,  Go,  and  he  goeth  ;  and  to  another.  Come, 
and  he  cometh  ;  and  to  my  servant,  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it." 
He  was  a  man  under  authority,  and  his  word  was  law  ;  then  why 
did  he  not  command  his  servant  to  be  healed  .■'  It  is  thus  we 
always  come  to  our  limit,  it  is  thus  that  the  sceptre  we  lift  touches 
the  end  of  its  dominion,  and  shrinks  back  into  a  common  walking 
staff.  Said  the  centurion,  "I  have  authority."  Then  why  did 
he  not  use  it  in  new  directions  }  Within  our  own  lines  we  are 
mighty  ;  beyond  those  lines  we  are  captured  as  trespassers  or  slain 
as  mean  spies.  When  men  learn  to  keep  within  their  own  proper 
boundaries,  intellectual  and  other,  they  will  attain  the  fulness  and 
the  most  satisfactory  fruition  of  their  power,  but  the  meanest  of  us 
can  ask  questions  that  may  vex  and  trouble  the  heart  of  God. 
Happy  he  who  knows  the  length  of  his  sceptre,  and  who  lays  it 
down  at  the  right  point,  who  says,  "  I  am  a  man  under  authority, 
but  there  is  a  point  at  which  my  word  has  no  force  :  I  am  silent 
at  that  point,  and  I  begin  to  pray  where  I  cease  to  rule. ' '  That 
is  the  true  law  of  life. 

Yet  what  wisdom  the  man  had  !  He  said,  "  But  speak  the 
word  only."  He  little  knew  what  he  was  saying,  "  The  word" 
— that  would  have  been  beautiful  and  complete — "  the  word  only," 
there  he  falls  into  softness  and  weakness  ;    he  shows  the  stoop 


THE  PRAYER   OF  FAITH. 


which  proves  him  to  be  but  a  man.  "The  word  only."  The 
word  is  the  authority,  the  word  is  the  power,  the  word  is  the  soul, 
the  word  is  the  incarnation.  ' '  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. ' '  Your  word 
vs, yourself :  do  not  imagine  that  your  speech  is  something  inde- 
pendent of  your  individuaUty  ;  your  speech  is  your  soul  in  utter- 
ance. When  a  man  speaks  earnestly,  the  word  is  the  very  fire  and 
flame  of  his  heart.  Jesus  Christ  could  not  but  speak  earnestly,  so 
his  quietest  word  held  the  thunder,  the  lightning,  as  the  dewdrop 
holds  it,  for  there  is  force  enough  in  that  one  dewdrop,  if  rightly 
touched,  to  rend  the  mountain  and  throw  down  the  altar  stair  that 
faced  heavenward.  Let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your  nay  nay — let 
your  word  be  your  true  self,  and  it  will  always  be,  according  to 
the  degree  of  your  capacity  and  influence,  with  authority  and 
power. 

Now  it  is  Jesus  Christ's  turn  :  O  that  we  could  have  seen  that 
marred  and  sorrow-riven  face  when  he  lifted  it  up  and  marvelled. 
He  himself  had  seen  a  miracle  :  his  own  miracles,  viewed  as  mere 
expressions  of  power,  fell  into  insignificance  before  the  miracle  per- 
formed by  the  centurion,  the  miracle  of  all-trust,  living,  loving, 
simple,  unquestioning,  undisputing  trust.  ' '  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.",  A  great 
wave  of  emotion  swelled  his  heart ;  forecasting  the  ages,  he  saw 
the  crown  already  rounding  into  shape  that  was  to  sit  upon  his 
own  head,  and  though  the  cross  lay  between  him  and  that  crown, 
he  endured  the  cross  and  despised  the  shame. 

We  have  it  in  our  power  to  gladden  his  heart.  How  pleased  he 
always  was  with  faith.  If  a  man  looked  trustfully  at  him,  he  said 
he  was  a  son  of  Abraham.  Sinner,  others  called  him,  and  publi- 
can ;  Jesus  called  him  Son  of  Abraham.  How  pleased  he  was, 
let  me  say  again  and  again,  with  faith  ;  a  woman  touched  the 
hem  of  his  garment  and  he  called  her  daughter.  He  had  never 
seen  the  woman  before,  humanly,  yet  he  called  her  by  endearing 
names  and  sent  her  home  with  his  peace.  Her  house  was  never 
so  rich  as  it  was  in  that  sunset.  He  does  not  ask  our  intellect, 
our  pomp,  our  power,  our  grandeur  ;  what  can  these  be  to  him, 
who  thickly  inlaid  the  floor  of  Heaven  with  "  patines  of  bright 
gold"?     What  can  our  gilt  be  to  him  who  spoke  the  sun  into 


MATTHEW  VIII.     5 -13.  21 


being,  and  rolled  the  stars  along  ?  But  when  we  look  up  to  him 
and  say,  "  Lord,  I  beUeve,"  it  fills  his  very  soul  with  joy.  He 
keeps  back  nothing  ixova  faith,  he  says  if  we  had  faith  as  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed,  the  mountains  would  be  at  our  bidding  and  the 
earth  would  be  our  slave. 

What  can  we  say  now  but  "Lord,  increase  our  faith".?  We 
are  full  of  questioning  and  speculation,  and  cleverness  and 
metaphysics,  and  we  are  keen  at  suggesting  difficulties,  and  clever 
in  the  creation  and  piling  of  obstacles.  I  would  God  I  could  say 
always  right  in  the  devil's  very  face  when  he  is  grinding  at  my 
weakness  most,  ' '  Lord,  I  believe. ' ' 


XXXI. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  are  all  sick  :  do  thou  heal  our  sicknesses  and  take 
our  infirmities,  and  make  us  well  with  the  health  of  heaven.  We  are  sick 
in  body,  or  we  are  sick  in  heart  :  the  whole  life  is  crooked  and  in  pain, 
our  very  breathing  is  a  cry  of  distress,  and  every  pulse  of  our  heart  is  a 
confession  of  weakness.  Behold  our  life  is  a  poverty,  and  our  existence 
is  a  sigh.  The  whole  head  is  sick  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint,  and  there 
is  in  us  no  health.  We  come  to  the  great  Healer,  to  the  Physician  that  is 
in  Gilead,  and  to  the  balm  that  is  there.  Others  have  healed  our  hurt 
slightly  :  they  have  said,  "  Peace,  peace,"  where  there  is  no  peace — now 
do  we  come  to  God  our  Father,  that  we  may  be  healed  in  our  heart  and 
made  clean  in  our  whole  being.  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  us 
clean.  Yet  why  should  we  challenge  thee  thus  when  thy  whole  ministry 
is  a  welcome  to  thy  love  and  an  utterance  of  thine  infinite  gospel  ?  Thou 
dost  shut  the  door  on  none,  thou  hast  said,  "  Seek  and  ye  shall  find,  knock 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you."  The  grace  is  upon  thy  side  more  than 
the  pleading  is  upon  ours.  Thine  answer  is  greater  than  our  prayer  ;  the 
healing  of  God  is  greater  than  the  distress  of  man.  Thou  dost  pardon 
with  pardons  ;  thy  forgiveness  is  as  the  waves  of  the  sea,  not  to  be  num- 
bered ;  great  and  mighty  are  they,  and  they  come  with  all  the  force  of  thy 
tender  heart  We  confess  our  sins  before  thee  with  an  open  mouth,  and 
with  a  heart  that  has  no  reservation  ;  we  cry,  "  Unclean,  unclean,  un- 
profitable, unprofitable,  lepers  are  we  all,  and  cankered  in  the  very  heart 
— God  be  merciful  unto  us  sinners."  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  thy  Son 
cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;  we  would  now  feel  its  gracious  power  and  answer 
its  cleansing  ministry.  It  is  at  the  cross  we  find  the  laver  of  regeneration, 
it  is  on  Calvary  we  are  forgiven  ;  the  pardons  of  thine  heart  are  signed 
with  the  blood  of  Christ. 

Thou  hast  given  unto  us  a  few  days,  and  we  spend  them  as  the  fool 
spends  his  small  heritage.  We  know  not  when  our  breath  may  be  taken 
from  us,  yet  behold  we  tell  lies  and  do  many  deceitful  things,  and  work 
before  God  as  if  we  could  claim  the  residue  of  our  time.  Show  us  that 
our  breath  is  in  our  nostrils,  that  our  grave  is  already  dug,  and  that  we 
are  hastening  with  every  breath  we  draw  to  the  great  judgment  ;  and 
whilst  this  reflection  makes  us  solemn,  may  all  thy  promises  be  as  singing 
angels  in  our  hearts,  making  them  glad  with  the  encouragements  which 
come  of  thy  grace  and  approbation.     Help  us  to  work  with  both  hands 


MATTHEW    VIII.     14-17.  23 

diligently  ;  may  there  be  no  half-heartedness  in  our  industry  ;  may  our 
i\le  be  the  toil  of  a  slave,  because  having  in  it  the  love  which  constrains 
the  heart,  and  we  shall  call  no  time  or  power  our  own.  We  would  be  the 
slaves  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  we  would  be  bound  to  him  by  every  energy  and 
every  passion  ;  would  call  nothing  our  own  ;  to  him  would  we  give  our- 
selves and  all  we  have.  Let  this  be  a  time  of  consecration,  individual  and 
universal  ;  may  every  heart  call  nothing  it  has  its  own,  but  give  itself  and 
its  possessions  to  the  great  Saviour  of  the  race. 

Upon  the  old  and  the  young  let  thy  sunlight  fall  ;  upon  the  venerable 
trees  that  have  grown  many  years,  and  upon  the  little  flowers  that  gleam 
at  their  roots,  a  few  days  old,  and  soon  to  be  cut  down  and  withered. 
The  Lord  look  upon  us  in  all  the  relations  of  our  life  ;  let  our  houses  be 
homes,  let  our  homes  be  Churches,  and  let  the  Church  at  home  be  the 
sweetest  place  on  earth. 

Give  guidance  to  those  who  are  in  perplexity  ;  put  the  right  key  into 
the  hand  of  the  man  who  is  opening  the  gate  that  bars  his  honourable  way  ; 
speak  comfortably  unto  Jerusalem,  and  say  with  thine  own  voice  that  her 
welfare  is  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity  is  pardoned.  Upon  all 
Churches,  upon  all  Christian  institutions,  upon  all  schools  and  universi- 
ties, upon  all  men  who  are  in  any  wise  endeavouring  to  do  good,  let  the 
blessing  of  God  be  poured  out  to-day  in  an  impartial  and  refreshing  rain. 
Amen. 

Matthew  viii.     14-17. 

14.  And  when  Jesus  was  come  into  Peter's  house,  he  saw  his  wife's 
mother  laid,  and  sick  of  a  fever. 

15.  And  he  touched  her  hand,  and  the  fever  left  her  :  and  she  arose, 
and  ministered  unto  them. 

16,  When  the  even  was  come,  they  brought  unto  him  many  that  were 
possessed  with  devils  :  and  he  cast  out  the  spirits  with  his  word,  and 
healed  all  that  were  sick  : 

17,  That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  Esaias  the  prophet, 
saying,  Himself  took  our  infirmities  and  bare  our  sicknesses. 


WORKING  ALL  DAY. 

"  A  ND  when  Jesus  was  come  into  Peter's  house."  The  cen- 
Jr\.  turion  would  not  hear  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  going  to 
his  house  :  it  was  beneath  so  great  a  worker  and  teacher  :  it  was  a 
humiliation  not  to  be  permitted  by  the  sense  which  the  centurion 
had  of  Roman  dignity  and  Roman  majesty.  4  Said  he,  "  Speak  the 
word  only,   and  my  servant  shall  be  healed."     Jesus  Christ  ap- 


24  CHRIST  ENTERS   THE  HOUSE. 


peared  to  the  centurion  to  be  in  his  right  place  when  he  was  upon 
the  mountain,  when  he  was  upon  the  sea,  when  the  great  blue  sky 
was  the  only  roof  over  his  head.  It  did  not  enter  into  his  mind 
that  Jesus  Christ  could  enter  a  little  human  habitation.  Do  not 
let  us  make  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  too  dignified  in  our  social  and 
conventional  sense  :  there  is  more  in  Christ  than  what  we  should 
limit  by  the  word  dignity.  I  am  afraid  that  some  of  us  keep  a 
long  way  from  God,  because  his  dignity,  as  we  falsely  and  vainly 
interpret  it,  keeps  us  at  a  cold  distance.  We  must  get  to  an  ap- 
preciation of  his  mind  by  such  words  as  love,  grace,  sympathy, 
condescension,  pity.  It  is  in  that  region  that  our  imagination 
and  our  love  must  move  if  they  would  realise  all  the  higher  bless- 
ings and  all  the  tenderer  benedictions  which  are  associated  with 
the  Divine  name. 

"  When  Jesus  was  come  into  the  house."  We  have  been  with 
him  at  the  river — there  he  was  baptized  ;  we  have  been  with  him 
in  the  wilderness — there  he  was  tempted  :  we  have  been  with  him 
as  he  walked  by  the  seaside — there  he  called  disciples  to  become 
fishers  of  men  :  we  have  been  with  him  on  the  mountain — there  in 
soft  and  musical  thunder  he  addressed  the  ages.  He  came  into 
Capernaum,  the  city  ;  he  is  getting  nearer.  To-day  he  enters  the 
house,  and  thus  completes  his  relation  to  all  points  of  human  life 
and  human  need.  He  would  come  into  your  house  if  you 
would  let  him  :  he  would  come  nearer  still,  he  would  come  into 
your  heart  if  you  were  willing.  ' '  Behold  1  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock  :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice  and  will  open  the  door  I  will 
come  in."  He  cannot  force  his  way  into  your  heart-house — he 
could  take  the  slates  off  your  roof,  pour  down  his  rain  upon  your 
Jittle  fire  until  it  was  quenched,  but  he  cannot  force  a  child's 
lOve  :  the  feeblest  life  can  mock  him  with  bitter  taunting  and  keep 
him  outside.  Know  thy  power  :  it  is  a  mischievous  strength,  but 
know,  O  man,  that  it  lies  within  thy  power  to  smite  God  in  the 
face  and  to  mock  him  with  every  throb  of  thine  heart.  Know  thy 
power,  realise  thy  strange  weird  majesty — that  thou  art  almost 
.God  ! 

When  he  was  come  into  the  house,  he  found  a  shadow  there. 

There  is  a  shadow  in  every  house,  there  is  a  fever  in  every 
family. 


MATTHEW  VIII.     14-17.  25 

"  There  is  no  flock,  however  watched  or  tended, 
But  one  dead  lamb  is  there  ; 
There  is  no  fireside,  howsoe'er  defended, 
But  has  one  vacant  chair." 

If  we  could  find  a  house  in  which  there  was  no  fever,  no  death, 
no  pain,  no  sorrow,  no  poverty,  we  should  all  want  to  live  in  it. 

But  Peter  was  a  disciple,  he  was  an  incipient  apostle,  he  was  the 
senior  disciple  ;  great  honours  were  in  store  for  his  name  in  the 
ages,  and  yet  the  shadow  was  in  his  house.  You  would  think 
that  God  would  send  all  the  shadows  upon  the  atheist,  and  would 
pile  night  on  him  so  thickly  as  to  make  him  mad  with  darkness. 
Yet  it  is  not  so  in  the  Divine  government.  Whom  the  Lord 
loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth. 
If  ye  endure  chastening,  God  dealeth  with  you  as  with  sons,  for 
what  son  is  there  whom  the  father  chasteneth  not  ?  If  ye  be  with- 
out chastening  then  are  ye  bastards  and  not  sons.  Doubt  your 
sonship  if  the  chastening  be  little  and  infrequent. 

Who  would  not  have  spared  the  senior  disciple— who  would  not 
have  made  hirn  the  focal  point  on  which  should  have  converged 
all  the  rays  of  the  Divine  approbation,  so  that  he  might  have  been 
like  a  light  seen  afar,  blazing  forth  the  excellence  and  the  won- 
drousness  of  the  Divine  election.  The  thief  that  lived  next  door 
had  less  fever  in  his  house  than  Peter  had.  Sometimes  the  bad 
man's  ground  brings  forth  plentifully,  sometimes  the  pampered 
and  overfed  Dives  has  wealth  upon  wealth,  while  the  praying  soul 
is  outside  with  dogs  for  his  companions  and  crumbs  as  his  por- 
tion. All  this  cannot  be  reconciled  within  the  narrow  limits  of 
time.  We  want  more  field  :  the  line  that  appears  to  be  straight  is 
only  apparently  straight,  because  of  the  limited  points  within 
which  it  is  drawn.  Extend  the  line  and  it  partakes  of  the  shape 
of  the  world  upon  whose  surface  it  is  drawn.  So  within  these 
narrow  points  of  time,  the  rocking  cradle  and  the  deep  tomb,  there 
is  not  scope  enough  to  reconcile  all  the  divine  purposes  and 
actions  and  mysteries  ;  we  need  more  field,  an  ampler  horizon. 
We  shall  get  it  by-and-by,  and  then  we  shall  know  how  God  has 
been  dealing  with  us  in  forcing  rivers  out  of  our  eyes  and  in 
making  our  heads  a  burning  pain.  O  child  of  God,  much  pray- 
ing man,  wearied  almost  with  crying  at  heaven's  gate,  proceed, 
persevere,  the  sigh  of  thy  weakness  shall  be  mightier  far  than  the 


26  THE  BENEFIT  OF  AFFLICTION. 

thunder  of  thy  strength.  Do  not  despair,  do  not  yet  give  up  ; 
while  there  is  one  dying  ray  of  Hght  in  the  sky,  hold  on. 

Who  would  be  without  affliction  at  home,  at  least  sometimes  ? 
Affliction  unites  the  family.  Given  great  prosperity  and  great 
wealth,  and  you  may  possibly  find  along  with  these  great  vanity 
and  great  tendency  to  self-assertion  and  to  mutual  contradiction 
and  contention  :  but  given  affliction,  and  there  is  something  in  it 
that  touches. every  heart  and  constrains  every  energy,  and  focalises 
all  the  resources  of  the  house,  so  that  the  sick-chamber  is  often  the 
church  of  the  habitation.  It  would  be  a  fool's  hiding-place  but 
for  the  sick-chamber  ;  that  sick-chamber  makes  the  young  pause, 
the  impetuous  take  time,  the  thoughtless  set  down  his  foot  quietly 
lest  he  should  give  needless  shock  and  pain  in  the  quiet  place  of 
suffering.  It  sets  wits  to  work — not  the  intellectual  wits  only,  but 
the  heart's  wits — to  find  out  new  delicacies,  new  tones,  new  music, 
new  expressions  of  gentleness.      It  makes  women  of  us  all. 

You  would  not  be  half  the  man  you  are  but  for  your  sick 
child  ;  your  tendency  is  toward  bumptiousness,  aggressiveness  of 
speech,  sternness,  harshness.  You  have  a  magisterial  cast  and 
bearing  in  your  life  ;  but  that  little  sick  child  has  softened  you, 
and  been  like  a  benediction  upon  your  life.  Men  now  take 
notice  of  your  voice  and  say,  "  What  new  tones  have  subtly 
entered  into  it ;  how  different  the  kind  grasp,  how  noble  the  new 
bearing,  how  impressive  the  sacred  patience,  how  touching  and 
pathetic  the  sadness  of  the  face!"  Afflictions  do  not  spring  out 
of  the  dust  :  do  not  be  impatient  with  them  ;  we  need  something 
to  soften  this  hard  life.  O,  if  it  were  all  buying,  selling,  getting 
gain,  outrunning  one  another  in  a  race  for  wealth  in  which  the 
racers  take  no  time  to  recover  themselves — there  would  be  no  gar- 
dens on  the  face  of  the  earth,  no  places  consecrated  to  floral 
beauty,  no  houses  built  for  music,  no  churches  set  up  for  prayer. 
But  affliction  helps  to  keep  us  right,  affliction  brings  us  to  our 
knees.  Poverty  says,  "  Think,  fool,  think.''  Affliction  opens  the 
Bible  at  the  right  places.  If  you,  strong  man,  with  the  radiant 
face  and  the  full  pocket,  were  to  open  the  Bible,  it  would  open 
upside  down,  and  at  nothing.  But  you,  broken-hearted  mother, 
you,  child  of  sickness,  you,  orphan  and  lonely  one,  your  Bible 
falls  open  always  at  the  right  place.  Give  me  your  family  Bible, 
and  I  will  tell  you  your  history-.     The  Bible  of  the  strong,  pros- 


MATTHEW  VIII.     14-17.  27 

perous,  rich  man — 'tis  like  himself ;  well  kept — too  well.  Hand 
me  yours,  man  of  the  broken  heart  and  the  tear-stained  cheek, 
and  the  reddened  eye  and  the  furrowed  brow.  Ah,  all  marks  and 
thumbings,  and  turnings  down  and  marginal  notes  and  pencil  in- 
dications— twenty-third  Psalm,  fortieth  of  Isaiah,  a  hundred  places 
in  Jeremiah- — including  the  Lamentations — why,  I  need  no  con- 
cordance to  this  Bible,  if  I  want  to  seek  out  the  promises.  I  see 
your  guest  has  been  Sorrow,  and  the  hospitality  you  have  offered 
him  has  been  Patience.  If  you  would  know  the  value  of  the 
Bible  in  the  house,  consult  those  who  have  needed  it  most,  and 
abide  by  their  sweet  reply. 

"  When  the  even  was  come."  What  even  .-*.  The  astronomi- 
cal even.  It  brings  its  own  beauty  with  it.  Do  not  be  sorry 
when  the  sun  westers  and  glows  with  solemn  pomp  in  his  dying 
hour.  When  the  even  was  come  astronomically,  the  sun  rose  re- 
deemingly.  Jesus  came  with  the  sunset,  and  when  he  comes  the 
sun  rises.  It  was  a  wondrous  conjunction,  the  old,  old  sun  of  the 
heavens,  faithful  servant  of  God,  lamp  too  high  to  be  blown  out 
by  man's  breath — when  the  sun  had  done  all  he  could  for  the 
earth,  he  was  going  away,  and  then  arose  the  other  Sun,  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness,  with  healing  under  his  wings.  See  what  a  busy 
sunset  was  this.  They  brought  unto  him  many  that  were  pos- 
sessed with  devils,  and  he  cast  out  the  spirits  with  his  word,  and 
healed  all  that  were  sick.  Mark,  this  work  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
twofold  :  it  had  to  do  with  devils  that  held  the  dominion  of  the 
mind,  and  it  had  to  do  with  diseases  that  held  the  dominion  of 
the  body.  What  wondrous  ease  is  in  these  words — "  He  cast  out 
the  spirits  with  his  word,  and  healed  all  that  were  sick,"  and  it  is 
written  as  if  he  had  merely  looked  up  or  breathed,  so  consum- 
mate, so  infinite,  so  deific  the  ease.  It  is  always  so  that  God 
must  work  ;  he  can  do  nothing  by  an  effort  ;  if  it  were  an  effort 
it  would  not  be  divine.  Power  is  in  the  ease  :  the  ease  is  the  sig- 
nature of  deity. 

In  all  great  life  the  same  thing  is  exemplified.  The  painter 
does  not  paint  with  difficulty,  if  he  be  heaven-born  ;  he  paints 
because  he  breathes.  The  poet  does  not  struggle  with  a  long  and 
painful  agony  to  write  his  verses  :  he  writes  because  he  breathes. 
All  this,  of  course,  has  its  limitations  in  human  life  ;  it  reaches 
the  fulness  and  the  last  touch  of  its  infinite  sacredness  in  Christ, 


28  CHRIST'S  COMPLETE  CURE. 

who  spake  and  it  was  done,  who  commanded  and  it  stood  fast — 
because  he  planted  the  heavens  and  set  the  earth  upon  nothing. 

Observe,  not  only  was  the  word  twofold,  but  it  was  complete — 
it  was  finished.  How  is  it  with  us  in  regard  to  our  human  help- 
ings and  healings  .'*  We  speak  thus,  and  not  inaccurately  or  un- 
wisely, namely,  "  The  doctor  did  me  much  good  ;  the  physician 
did  me  some  good  ;  the  medical  advice  was  in  some  degree  just 
what  I  wanted  ;  the  relief  was  palpable,  and  I  was  glad  of  it. ' ' 
Do  you  ever  find  that  word  recorded  of  Christ.?  Did  he  ever 
almost  heal  a  man  .?  It  is  a  curious  thing  of  those  unlearned  and 
ignorant  men  who  wrote  his  life,  to  have  set  down  this,  so  con- 
sistently, as  if  they  had  been  working  upon  a  plan  of  mutual  and 
collusive  deceit  and  fraud.  Did  he  ever  come  into  contact  with  a 
devil-ridden  one  and  say,  "  I  can  almost  heal  thee,  but  not 
wholly  ".?  His  disciples  have  come  into  conflict  with  such  a  pos- 
sessed individual,  but  Jesus  was  not  there.  He  came  down  and 
found  the  crowd  around  the  disciples  and  said,  "  What  is  it  V  It 
ennobles  us  to  see  him  in  that  hour  ;  his  face  has  a  transfiguring 
effect  upon  our  commonness.  "  What  is  it .?"  and  a  voice  said, 
"  I  brought  my  child  to  thy  disciples  that  they  might  cast  out  the 
devil  that  has  seized  and  ruined  him,  and  they  could  not."  Did 
his  face  darken  with  fear  }  Did  his  person  contract  with  shame  } 
Did  he  postpone  the  controversy .?  He  said,  ' '  Bring  him  unto 
me,"  and  he  said,  "  I  command  thee  come  out  of  him,"  and  he 
came  out  like  a  scourged  hound  that  knew  the  master's  voice,  a 
voice  that  fell  upon  him  like  a  thong  of  scorpions,  and  he  came 
out. 

Did  Jesus  Christ  ever  almost  heal  the  halt .?  did  he  ever  open 
the  eyes  of  the  blind  almost  ?  did  he  ever  give  a  IMe  relief  to  the 
deaf.?  He  said,  "  Go,  tell  John  the  things  ye  see  and  hear  ;  the 
blind  receive  their  sight,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dumb  speak,  the  lame 
walk,  and  unto  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached." 

Yet  he  who  can  work  omnipotently  in  all  these  directions  which 
are  indicated  by  demon  possession  and  direful  disease,  cannot 
work  faster  in  your  heart  than  you  will  let  him.  It  is  there  that 
he  must  work '  partially,  and  incompletely.  He  would  make  us 
without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  but  we  will  not  let  him. 
We  know  our  power  and  we  use  it.  He  can  drive  out  the  devil 
— but  how  to  bring  the  angel  in  .?     He  can  banish  our  disease  and 


MATTHEW   VIII.     14-17.  29 

restore  our  bodily  health — but  how  to  make  the  soul  well  ? 
"  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock."  It  hath  pleased  him 
to  make  us  so,  that  we  can  keep  him  knocking.  There  is  no 
force  in  the  moral  direction  :  God  works  by  consent  of  the  human 
heart.  ' '  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock. ' '  No  other  god 
dare  take  upon  him  such  humility.  We  keep  our  mythological 
gods  in  courtly  pomp,  we  keep  them  well  up  in  the  smoke  and 
the  cloud.  It  takes  irtith  to  search  in  the  mud,  to  light  a  candle 
and  seek  for  the  lost  man  :  it  takes  God  to  die  that  man  may  live. 
Let  us  give  our  hearts  to  him. 

Jesus  Christ's  work  was  coniimial.  We  have  been  impressed 
with  this  as  we  have  come  along  the  story.  It  presents  him  with 
opportunities,  and  he  accepts  them  as  they  come.  The  multi- 
tudes were  gathered — he  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them. 
There  came  a  leper — he  said,  "  I  will,  be  thou  clean."  He  en- 
tered into  Capernaum,  and  there  came  unto  him  a  centurion,  and 
he  healed  the  centurion's  servant.  He  came  into  Peter's  house 
and  found  a  fever-stricken  woman — he  touched  her  hand  and  the 
fever  fled  from  that  touch.  When  the  even  was  come,  they 
brought  unto  him  devils,  and  he  healed  all  that  were  sick.  Jesus 
Christ's  ministry  was  a  great  effort;  it  was  a  great  life.  O  thou 
preaching  man,  do  not  spend  thy  time  in  preparing  thy  sermon, 
but  in  preparing  thyself,  and  the  sermon  will  be  right,  not  perhaps 
artistically  and  technically,  and  according  to  the  wooden  standards 
of  the  self-made  schools,  but  there  will  be  in  it  subtle  flame,  subtle 
sympathy,  magnetism,  divine  flashings  and  gleamings  that  will 
help  men  to  the  mountains.  The  Saviour  never  gathered  himself 
together  for  a  great  occasion — he  was  the  great  occasion.  He 
created  the  opportunity,  he  ennobled  the  chance  of  the  day,  he 
found  a  wilderness  and  built  a  tabernacle  in  it  ;  he  found  a  needy 
humanity,  and  he  left  the  blessing  of  heaven  where  he  found  the 
trace  and  signature  of  the  devil. 

Apply  all  this  to  ourselves.  Jesus,  go  home  with  us  and  see 
what  a  shadow  is  there  ;  go  upstairs  with  us  and  see  the  daughter 
who  has  not  been  well  these  twenty  years,  and  the  son  whose  life 
is  an  almost  daily  weakness,  and  often  a  sharp  and  crying  pain  ; 
come  and  see  the  child-grandmother  that  has  been  groping  for 
heaven's  gate  many  a  day,  because  in  her  heart  there  is  a  longing 
to  go  home  ;  come  and  see  all  of  us,  upstairs  and  down  :    the 


so  CHRIST  INVITED    TO    THE  HEART. 

birds  will  sing  the  blither  for  thy  coming  in,  they  will  find  their 
cages  enlarged  in  thy  presence  ;  come  and  look  into  the  poor 
man's  cupboard  and  turn  his  one  loaf  into  five  and  his  little 
dinner  into  a  feast  for  a  king.  Come  into  the  shop,  the  counting- 
house,  the  bank,  the  market-place,  the  office,  and  see  how  we  have 
huddled  things  together,  and  straighten  out  these  crooked  things 
for  us.  Come  into  our  hearts,  and  see  how  we  have  devils  in 
them,  devils  of  ambition,  devils  of  falsehood,  devils  of  vanity,  all 
kinds  of  devils,  and  cleanse  the  defiled  heart.  We  are  all  sick  ; 
there  is  not  a  life  that  has  not  its  pain,  not  a  hope  that  has  not 
its  shadow,  not  a  prayer  that  has  not  its  fierce  temptation.  Othou 
Healer,  thou  Father  and  Mother  of  us  all,  dear  Jesus,  a  Woman 
thou  art,  a  Man,  a  God,  Son  of  Mary,  Son  of  Man — enter  every 
heart  and  make  it  beautiful  as  heaven  ! 


XXXII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Saviour  and  our  Priest,  our  only  answer  to  thy  law.  We  live  in  thy 
remembrance  of  us  :  when  thou  dost  forget  us,  we  shall  die  in  the  dark- 
ness of  thy  frown.  Who  can  stand  the  neglect  of  God  ?  Thou  openest 
thine  hand  and  satisfiest  the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  That  thou  givest 
them,  they  gather  ;  thou  openest  thine  hand,  they  are  filled  with  good  ; 
thou  turnest  away  thine  eyes  and  they  die  in  the  infinite  darkness.  Who 
can  stand  against  the  Lord,  or  fight  against  his  almightiness  and  prevail  ? 
Thy  chariots  are  as  the  whirlwind  and  thy  horses  are  swifter  than  eagles, 
and  our  hand  is  lifted  up  in  weakness  only  to  fall  down  again  in  utter  fail- 
ure and  distress.  Truly  we  live  because  thy  compassions  fail  not  ;  thy 
pity  IS  the  explanation  of  the  continuance  of  our  days  ;  because  thine 
heart  is  moved  towards  us  with  all  the  tenderness  of  yearning  love,  there- 
fore is  our  life  not  yet  cut  off — we  are  the  living,  the  living  to  praise  thee, 
we  stand  as  memorials  of  thy  goodness  ;  our  very  breathing  should  be  a 
song  of  thy  care  and  love,  yea  our  whole  life  should  be  a  sacrifice  unto 
thee  because  of  thy  patience  and  long-suffering. 

Thou  hast  written  thy  book  for  our  guidance  :  thou  hast  not  left  us 
without  witness  and  memorial  in  the  wilderness  ;  thou  hast  declared  thy 
counsel  concerning  us  in  many  simple  and  tender  words.  Give  us  the 
seeing  eye,  the  hearing  ear,  the  understanding  heart,  and  may  thy  will, 
revealed  in  plain  letters,  be  the  man  of  our  counsel  and  the  guide  of  our 
life.  May  we  have  no  will  of  our  own,  may  we  live  in  thy  purpose  and 
bow  loyally  before  thy  Kingship.  All  we  like  sheep  had  gone  astray  ;  we 
had  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way.  Now  by  the  grace  of  God  mani- 
fested in  Jesus  Christ,  we  have  returned  to  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of 
our  souls.  We  enter  into  thine  house  with  thanksgiving,  with  loud  sweet 
songs  of  the  very  heart,  fired  with  all  our  love,  and  lifted  high  above  the 
winds  because  of  the  passion  of  our  thankfulness.  Hear  thou  in  Heaven 
thy  dwelling-place,  our  adoring'psalm  and  our  filial  hymn,  and  send  down 
from  the  invisible  sanctuary  blessings  that  shall  illuminate  and  nourish 
and  perfect  our  souls. 

Thou  knowest  us  altogether  ;  we  have  nothing  that  we  can  hide  from 
God.  Thou  knowest  the  place  of  our  roots,  and  every  fibre  of  them  is 
under  thy  searching  eye.  Thou  knowest  where  we  were  born  and  under 
what  circumstances  of  joy  or  sorrow.  Thou  hast  looked  upon  us  ever 
since.     Thy  good  hand  has  beset  us  behind  and  before,  and  has  been  laid 


32  PRA  YER. 

upon  us,  and  because  of  thy  blessing  our  lile  is  now  found  in  a  holy  place. 
Thou  knowest  the  rods  that  have  smitten  us  ;  thou  knowest  the  thorns 
that  have  pierced  and  torn  us  in  our  long  journeyings  ;  thou  knowest  what 
difficult  places  have  been  found  in  our  course,  how  sometimes  there  have 
been  no  friends  and  many  enemies,  much  sand  and  stone,  and  no  water. 
Thou  understandeth  us  altogether,  in  our  sorrows  and  in  our  delights,  in 
our  adversities  and  prosperities,  and  thou  dost  judge  us  by  thy  pity  and 
love  as  well  as  by  the  severity  of  thy  righteousness.  According  to  our 
want  and  pain  do  thou  now  come  to  us  every  one  :  omit  none  from  thy 
blessing.  Where  the  hpart  is  burdened  do  thou  lift  the  oppressed  weight  ; 
where  the  eyes  are  darkened  with  a  great  darkness  do  thou  let  fall  upon 
them  some  gentle  light  from  Heaven  ;  where  there  is  great  gladness  or 
unusual  joy  of  heart,  where  the  goblet  is  full  of  the  wine  of  joy,  do  thou 
grant  unto  such  to  remember  that  all  true  and  perfect  gifts  come  down 
from  Heaven,  from  the  Father  of  lights. 

Speak  to  those  who  are  nearly  done  ;  show  them  that  they  have  but  a 
few  pages  to  write  and  the  life-letter  will  be  complete.  Speak  comfort- 
ably to  those  who  are  in  the  midst  of  their  records,  and  do  thou  show 
them  that  what  is  now  being  written  will  one  day  be  read  by  thyself. 
Come  near  to  those  who  are  beginning  their  way,  and  give  them  courage, 
Christian  hopefulness,  saintly  resolution,  and  enable  them  to  work  out 
their  life's  work  with  all  patience  and  love  and  Christian  fidelity.  The 
Lord  look  u,pon  those  who  are  not  with  us  to-day,  who  are  in  the  sick- 
chamber,  or  in  some  place  of  penitential  hiding,  or  on  the  great  sea,  or  in 
the  far-off  land,  in  the  prison,  or  in  the  field  of  war.  The  Lord  look  upon 
all  whom  we  ought  to  include  in  our  tenderest  prayers,  and  send  blessings 
from  the  sanctuary  that  shall  be  as  the  bread  of  life. 

We  put  ourselves  day  by  day  into  thine  hands;  send  what  thou  wilt 
send  to  us  ;  let  the  light  fall  upon  us  from  every  point  of  the  sky  if  thou 
wilt,  or  let  the  great  darkness  make  our  way  fearful.  Whether  it  be  light 
or  whether  it  be  dark,  take  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  us  ;  let  there  be  light 
within,  and  then  there  shall  be  the  calm  of  Heaven. 

The  Lord  help  every  good  man  to  do  his  work  with  both  hands,  dili- 
gently, with  a  heart  steadfast  in  all  righteousness,  and  with  an  expectation 
that  cannot  be  cut  off  in  despair.  The  Lord  turn  upside  down  the  counsel 
of  the  wicked,  and  bring  to  naught  the  deliberations  of  those  whose  heart 
is  moved  by  malice.  The  Lord  forgive  our  enemies,  pity  our  little- 
nesses ;  come  with  infinite  pardonings  to  our  heavy  and  ever-darkening 
guilt,  and  ever  lift  above  the  cloud  of  our  fear  the  cross  of  the  great  Son 
of  God.     Amen. 

Matthew  viii.    18-22. 

i8.  Now  when  Jesus  saw  great  multitudes  about  him,  he  gave  com- 
mandment to  depart  unto  the  other  side. 

19.  And  a  certain  scribe  came,  and  said  unto  him,  Master,  I  will  follow 
thee  whithersoever  thou  goest. 


MATTHEW   VIII.     18-22.  33 


20.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  have  nests  (literally  shelter),  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to 
lay  his  head. 

21.  And  another  of  his  apostles  said  unto  him,  Lord,  suffer  me  first  to 
go  and  bury  my  father. 

22.  But  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Follow  me  ;  and  let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead. 

THE  CONDITIONS  OF  DISCIPLESHIP. 

"  T  T  E  gave  commandment."  There  was  always  in  him  some 
J.  1.  sign  of  lordship.  He  did  not  receive  instructions,  he 
gave  them  ;  though  in  one  moment  more  his  mouth  was  to  be 
opened  in  a  confession  of  the  fact  that  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his 
head,  yet  he  gave  commandment.  This  kind  of  writing  does  not 
come  of  the  uninspired  human  fancy,  nor  hold  together  with  suffi- 
cient artistic  cohesion,  to  be  the  child  of  the  mere  imagination. 
Yet  there  is  a  rugged  and  vital  unity  about  it,  which  is  the  seal  of 
truth.  A  peasant  and  the  son  of  a  peasant  and  without  any  signs 
of  power  about  him  such  as  are  reckoned  of  consequence  by 
earthly  judges,  he  yet  "  gave  commandment."  Whence  this  im- 
perative tone  }  Whence  this  subtle  claim  to  dominion  }  Whence 
this  quiet  assumption  of  supreme  power .?  When  he  concluded 
his  discourse  the  people  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine,  for  he 
taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  not  as  one  being  in  author- 
ity, not  as  one  who  had  on  an  official  cloak  and  must  be  respected 
for  his  clothes'  sake,  but  as  one  having  authority,  breathing  it, 
holding  it,  originating  it,  directing  it  ;  and  this  same  authoritative 
speaker  of  doctrine,  gave  commandment,  issued  a  royal  precept, 
told  the  people  about  him  what  to  do.  Truly  the  parts  do  hold 
together,  not  with  any  mechanical  contrivance,  but  because 
they  belong  to  one  another  by  the  law  of  a  reconciliation  which 
does  not  come  within  the  technical  sphere  of  the  mere  fancy. 
His  look  was  law  ;  his  tone  admitted  of  no  qualifications  ;  his 
word  was  prompt,  complete,  authoritative,  final.  He  never  re- 
called a  sentence  to  amend  it  ;  he  never  requested  permission  to 
add  to  his  own  doctrine  an  explanatory  or  emendatory  note. 
Show  me  a  single  instance  in  which  he  ever  corrected  himself. 
Our  pages  are  blotted  all  over  with  erasujes  and  disfigured  by  a 
thousand  interlineations,  but  his  writing  is  straight  on,  no  sentence 


34  CHRIST  ANSWERS   THE  NEEDY. 

interfering  with  any  other  sentence,  any  more  than  any  star  clashes 
with  any  fellow  planet  in  all  the  sea  of  the  heaven. 

"  When  he  saw  great  multitudes  about  him  he  gave  command- 
ment to  depart. ' '  We  should  have  thought  it  would  have  been 
an  excellent  reason  for  staying  where  he  was.  What  more  could 
he  need  than  great  multitudes  .?  He  came  to  teach,  to  preach,  to 
heal,  to  bless,  and  to  save,  and  behold  here  are  great  multitudes, 
and  yet  he  gives  their  presence  as  a  reason  for  leaving  them.  Why 
did  this  Son  of  man  leave  the  great  thronging,  sweltering  multi- 
tudes ?  Because  the  true  spirit  had  left  them.  They  were  a 
mob  :  it  was  a  great  congeries  of  curious  gazers,  of  persons  who 
wanted  to  be  satisfied  with  mighty  works  and  wondrous  signs. 
They  were  swollen  with  their  own  wonder,  moved  by  the  bad  in- 
spiration of  their  own  love  of  amazement.  To  such  people  Jesus 
Christ  never  has  anything  to  say.  To  the  miracle-loving  Herods 
he  answers  never  a  word  ;  to  the  merely  curious  inquirers  regard- 
ing doctrine  or  history  he  preserves  a  stony  silence.  It  is  not  the 
crowd  as  a  crowd  he  wants  or  seeks,  it  is  the  needy  heart,  the 
conscious  poverty,  the  piercing,  pleading  pain.  Do  not  suppose 
that  we  can  attract  him  by  anything  of  a  merely  multitudinous  or 
formal  or  ceremonial  character.  To  this  man  will  I  look — which 
man  .?  The  crowned  one,  whose  shoulders  are  empurpled,  whose 
feet  are  plunged  in  soft  velvet  and  down  }  To  this  man  will  I 
look.  I  long  for  the  answer  to  that  statement.  "  Which  man  .?" 
my  heart  inly  cries.  To  the  man  that  is  of  a  broken  and  a  contrile 
heart  and  who  trembleih  at  my  word.  Fill  jour  churches  with 
multitudes  and  with  eloquence  and  with  incense  and  with  colour, 
till  the  eye  is  weighted  by  its  oppressiveness,  but  if  the  waiting, 
panting,  broken  heart  be  not  there,  Christ  is  miles  away,  yea,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  horizon,  with  his  back  to  us.  The  Son  of 
man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  comes 
to  our  poverty,  weakness,  and  self-renunciation,  not  to  our  wealth 
and  strength  and  self-assertion. 

We  have  now  to  figure  him  as  about  to  move  to  the  other  side, 
and  while  he  is  in  the  process  of  going,  a  certain  scribe  came  and 
said  unto  him,  "  Master,  I  will  follow  thee  whithersoever  thou 
goest. "  This  man  represents  the  ardent  and  hopeful  side  of 
human  nature.  He  sees  no  difficulties,  his  heart  is  swollen  with  a 
new  and  glad  impulse,  and  he  says  he  will  follow  that  impulse, 


MATTHEW   l-rri.     iS-22.  35 

whatever  the  event  may  be.  Could  consecration  be  completer  ? 
Could  any  promise  be  less  reserved  ?  The  Son  of  man  will  leap 
towards  this  man  as  towards  a  friend  :  he  will  fall  upon  his  neck  and 
cry  tears  of  joy  upon  his  shoulders.  What  was  his  reply  }  Cold 
as  ice.  The  hot  heart  came  to  him,  and  he  dropped  into  it  a 
great  load  of  polar  ice.  The  reply  in  letters  was  this  :  ' '  Foxes  have 
holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man 
hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  What  became  of  (he  scribe.? 
The  text  does  not  inform  us. 

Jesus  Christ  treated  the  ardent  temperament  by  always  present- 
ing the  dark  side  of  the  case.  It  is  thus  he  balances  us.  To  the 
low  in  heart,  the  fearful  and  timorous  in  spirit,  he  speaks  a 
promise,  and  so  lifts  up  the  mind  on  the  depressed  side  until  a 
happy  equipoise  is  established.  To  the  bold,  enthusiastic,  roman- 
tic disciple,  who  is  going  to  walk  upon  the  wind,  he  says,  ' '  You 
are  going  to  a  land  where  you  will  not  have  a  pillow  for  your 
head."  It  is  thus  that  men  see  different  sides  of  the  Christian 
faith  :  it  is  thus  that  men  are  measured  by  different  standards  in 
the  Christian  sanctuary.  It  is  thus  that  perhaps  no  two  Christian 
experiences  exactly  coincide.  Christ  is  to  us  what  we  are  to  him. 
He  fills  the  great  mountain  with  light,  and  he  fills  the  little  daisy, 
too,  with  light,  and  never  a  beam  too  much  to  bear  down  its  weak 
little  neck.  He  that  gathers  much  in  this  field  has  nothing  over ;. 
he  who  gathers  little  has  no  lack.  How  foolish,  then,  and  utterly , 
vain  is  any  attempt  to  reconcile  men's  thinkings  in  mere  letters  and 
words.  You  cannot  write  Christian  experience  once  for  all.  It 
varies,  it  carries  a  thousand  different  colours  and  tints  and  hues  and 
mixtures  of  colour,  and  utters  itself  in  innumerable  tones,  complete, 
strong,  tender,  weak,  whining,  valiant,  glad  as  the  utterance  of  a 
trumpet,  and  sad  as  the  moaning  of  a  heart  that  is  stabbed.  Do 
not,  therefore,  be  looking  out  for  uniform  standards  and  unani- 
mous opinions  and  coincident  experiences.  Christianity  will 
answer  you  so  as  to  bring  up  the  side  of  your  character  that  needs 
elevation. 

This  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  next  man. 
Another  of  the  disciples  said  unto  him,  Lord,  I  will  go  with  thee 
to  the  other  side,  but  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury  my  father." 
How  filial,  how  tender — a  plea  to  which  the  son  of  God  can  have 
but  one  reply.      What  says  he .?     He  speaks  in  a  most  soldierly 


36  CHRIST'S  REPLY   TO    TEMPORISING. 


tone.  He  hardens  himself  into  most  inexorable  discipline,  and 
says,  ' '  Follow  me,  and  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead. ' '  A  hard 
tone,  without  one  pulse  of  human  feeling  in  it  :  how  unloving, 
how  unsympathetic,  how  chilling,  how  calculated  to  alienate 
human  affection  !  This  answer  was  to  a  particular  person  of  a 
particular  temperament,  and  was  meant  to  redeem  that  man  from 
a  false  conception  of  Christian  doctrine  and  Christian  duty.  It 
does  not  apply  to  all  cases  ;  it  had  a  distinct  and  limited  application, 
and  was  the  only  message  fitted  for  the  kind  of  man  to  whom  it 
was  delivered.  He  could  not  hand  on  the  message  indiscrimi- 
nately to  others  ;  it  was  a  gospel  spoken  to  his  own  heart ;  it  was 
bread  intended  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  own  hunger. 

This  man,  however,  has  many  representatives  in  all  ages.  Let 
us  understand  him  a  little.  He  is  the  kind  of  man  who  always 
has  some  arratigemetti  to  make.  He  is  the  sort  of  person  who  can 
never  do  the  next  thing  that  is  to  be  done  without  precedingly 
doing  something  on  one  side.  There  are  persons  who,  when  we  call 
them,  say,  "Coming — presently."  A  broken  obedience,  a  reluctant 
reply,  a  mixed  answer  !  Who  can  tell  how  far  that  "  presently" 
stretches  over  their  life.?  "Presently"  is  a  word  that  cannot  be 
described  by  the  dictionary,  and  that  cannot  be  measured  on  the 
face  of  the  clock.  Are  you  not  acquainted  with  some  friends  who 
are  always  quite  willing  to  serve  you,  but  first  must  go  down  the 
road  or  up  the  hill,  to  the  post-office,  or  up-stairs,  and  then  .  .  .  .? 
Such  arrangements  may  be  permitted  as  between  man  and  man, 
such  little  slaveries  to  the  matter  of  convenience  may  be  permitted 
on  the  social  scale,  but  when  it  becomes  a  question  of  following 
Christ,  we  are  called  upon  for  absolute  self-surrender.  That  is 
the  very  essence  of  Christianity.  There  is  nothing  double  in 
Christian  consecration  ;  the  true  Christian  slave  has  one  eye,  one 
hand,  one  end,  one  heart,  one  prayer,  one  desire.  Have  we  at- 
tained this  .?  Not  a  soul  amongst  us  has  come  within  a  million 
miles  of  its  attainment ;  but  if  we  desj're  it,  hope  for  it,  and  strug- 
gle towards  it,  God  will  take  a  broken  column  as  if  it  were  a  pil- 
lar completed  to  a  glittering  point. 

The  answer  of  Jesus  Christ  to  all  temporising  and  arrangement- 
making  persons  is  an  answer  of  unreserved  and  absolute  surrender. 
Do  you  suppose  that  we  have  given  Christ  everything .?  I  have 
not.      If  you  have,  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  you.      I  am  still  bury- 


MATTHEW   VIII.     18-22.  37 

ing  my  father,  I  am  still  completing  my  bargains,  I  am  still  add- 
ing to  my  estate,  I  am  still  studying  the  ways  and  tricks  of  a 
perverse  world,  I  am  still  hushing  my  breath,  so  as  not  to  awaken 
the  sleeper.  I  am  going  after  Christ,  but  I  must  first  quaff  this 
cup,  inhale  this  fragrance,  and  breathe  in  this  cloud.  I  am  com- 
ing— presently.  'I'his  is  what  you  said  to  me  when  I  asked  you  to 
join  the  Church,  to  surrender  to  Christ,  to  become  an  out-and- 
out  Christian.  You  did  not  say  to  me,  "  No  !"  you  said, 
"  Thank  you,  I  will  come — presenlly." 

These  answers  of  Jesus  Christ  are  exaggerations  in  the  sense  of 
having  another  side  to  them  which  would  have  shown  their  true 
meaning.  There  are  some  persons  who  do  not  understand  the 
law  of  exaggeration  :  to  them  an  exaggeration  is  a  lie  ;  they  do 
not  know  that  we  have  to  paint  very  broadly,  to  be  seen  afar. 
There  are  those  who  do  not  understand  that  we  have  to  infuse  into 
some  utterances  an  emphasis  beyond  the  immediate  literal  re- 
quirement of  the  case  in  order  that  the  detonation  may  be  heard. 
They  do  not  comprehend  Jesus  Christ  when  he  utters  those  sub- 
lime exaggerations,  yet  nothing  but  such  exaggerations  would 
have  met  the  cases  in  question.      Now  let  us  qualify  them. 

Peter  once  said  to  Jesus,  "  We  have  left  all  and  followed  thee." 
Jesus  Christ  replied,  ' '  No  man  hath  left  father  or  mother,  sister 
or  brother,  houses  or  lands,  for  my  sake  and  the  gospel's,  but 
shall  receive  a  hundredfold  in  this  present  life  and  in  the  world  to 
come  life  everlasting. ' '  That  was  not  the  answer  which  he  made 
to  the  scribe  :  to  him  he  set  forth  the  severe — by  and-by  he  would 
enter  into  the  gracious.  His  gospel  does  not  tempt  us  ;  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  not  a  bribe,  it  is  first  a  cross,  a  discipline,  a 
pain,  an  agony,  and  afterwards  a  sweet  quiet  heaven.  In  the  case 
of  Peter  the  great  act  had  been  done.,  in  the  case  of  the  scribe  it 
was  about  to  be  done.  The  scribe  would  have  been  misled  if  the 
great  promise  had  been  held  out  to  him  ;  he  therefore  had 
revealed  to  him  only  the  darker  aspect  of  this  great  adventure. 

Jesus  Christ  never  lets  any  man  really  go  after  him  and  be  dis- 
appointed with  the  result.  He  keeps  his  grace  for  daily  revela- 
tion according  to  the  daily  need.  Pie  giveth  more  grace — he 
giveth  grace  upon  grace.  He  will  not  tempt  you  as  with  a  bribe, 
but  he  will  feed  you  with  an  eternal  satisfaction.      I  do  not  ask 


MAKING  AND   REWARDING  DISCIPLES. 

you  therefore  to  come  into  the  Christian  sanctuary  that  you  may 
get  rid  of  your  distresses,  and  your  debts  and  burdens,  your 
pains  of  body  and  your  clouds  of  mind,  but  1  call  you  and  tell 
you  that  it  is  a  cross  you  have  to  take  up.  That  was  the  message 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  another  of  his  disciples — "  Follow  me,  quench 
every  other  love,  fix  your  undivided  vision  upon  myself,  beware  of 
wandering  desires  and  divided  affections  and  broken  resolutions 
and  imperfect  vows.  If  any  man  will  follow  me,  let  him  take  up 
his  cross. "  A  great  teacher,  truly,  and  not  less  gracious  than 
severe. 

From  these  two  instances  two  false  inferences  might  be  drawn. 
First,  ih?^^  Jesus  Christ  did  nol  care  lo  make  disciples.  He  had  the 
chance  of  making  two  disciples  here  in  the  superior  sense  (for 
probably  they  were  both  disciples  in  the  merely  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  the  word),  and  yet  he  discouraged  both  the  men.  When 
did  he  ever  appear  anxious  to  increase  his  numbers  }  When  was 
it  a  matter  of  personal  consequence  to  him  to  make  two  into  four 
and  four  into  twenty,  and  when  did  he  send  forth  a  statistician  to 
schedule  the  numbers  of  his  flock  .?  Truly  this  kingdom  is  not  a 
new  miracle,  mystery,  or  arithmetical  surprise  or  success.  Arith- 
metic has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Christ  v/orks  slowly  but  he  works 
continuously,  and  the  end  shall  come  and  he  will  deliver  up  the 
kingdom  to  God  his  Father,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all,  for  he 
must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet.  The  last 
enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death,  then  in  all  the  universe 
there  shall  be  nothing  but  radiant,  joyous  anthem-singing,  life 
and  immortality.  He  did  not  like  men  to  go  away  from  him, 
but  still  if  they  wished  to  go,  he  did  not  hinder  them.  Jesus  said 
to  his  disciples  when  many  turned  away  and  walked  no  more  with 
him,  "  Will  ye  also  go  away  V  He  was  accustomed  to  loneliness, 
he  had  trodden  the  winepress  alone,  and  of  the  people  there  were 
none  with  him.  We  do  not  flatter  or  patronise  Christ  by  the  mul- 
titudinousncss  of  our  number  :  he  asks  not  for  many  only,  but 
for  much — for  the  very  life  and  loyalty  of  the  heart. 

A  second  false  inference  that  might  be  drawn  from  these  an- 
swers is,  that  Jesus  Christ  had  nothing  to  offer  to  his  disciples.  He 
told  one  man  that  he  would  have  no  pillow  for  his  head,  and  he 
told  another  simply  to  follow  him  and  let  the  dead  bury  the  dead. 


MATTHEW   VII L     18-22.  39 

Again  and  again  are  we  taught  that  this  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not 
a  bribe  ;  we  are  not  to  go  after  it  for  the  sake  of  the  loaves  and 
fishes.  Jesus  Christ  never  promised  a  downy  pillow  :  he  has 
many  a  time  darkly  hinted  at  a  crown  of  thorns.  Jesus  Christ 
never  promised  honours  and  delights  and  satisfactions  of  an  earthly 
kind  :  he  always  said,  "  The  cross  is  heavy,  and  it  must  be  laid 
upon  the  weakest  shoulder. '  *  O  thou  severe  One,  what  is  the 
meaning  of  all  this  ?  The  meaning  is  in  a  sentence.  He  seeks 
for  truth  in  us  which  shall  correspond  to  the  truth  that  is  in  him. 
My  profession  must  not  be  a  personal  luxury — it  must  be  truth  to 
truth,  reality  to  reality,  Christ  and  his  disciples  one,  as  he  and  his 
Father  are  one. 

Tell  the  mocker  that  Jesus  Christ  does  not  bribe  his  disciples  : 
tell  the  taunting  fool  that  in  this  warfare  every  man  is  to  be  a  sol- 
dier, trained  by  the  severest  discipline,  whose  delinquencies  are 
to  be  punished  with  the  highest  penalties,  but  tell  them  also  that 
are  without  and  who  mock  and  taunt  and  wonder,  that  there  is 
no  such  bread  as  that  which  comes  down  from  heaven. 


XXXIII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  have  heard  thy  sweet  call  to  come  to  thine  house, 
and  behold  we  are  now  here  present  before  thee,  with  our  adoration  and 
confession,  with  our  grateful  hymn  and  with  our  cry  of  penitence,  and  we 
humbly  beseech  thee  to  come  to  us  and  to  receive  what  we  have  now  to 
give.  Behold  we  have  nothing  to  give  thee  in  return  for  all  thy  goodness 
but  a  broken  service.  Thou  wilt  receive  it  by  its  meaning  and  purpose 
and  not  because  of  its  own  value  and  desert.  We  take  thy  law  into  our 
lips,  and  we  break  it  every  syllable  :  our  hands  have  no  clean  spot  upon 
them,  but  within  and  without  they  bear  witness  against  themselves.  Our 
heart  is  a  sepulchre,  the  bottom  of  which  hath  not  yet  been  found  :  our 
mind  is  as  a  chamber  of  imagery  wherein  are  idols  not  to  be  counted,  and 
wherein  there  are  purposes  for  which  there  are  no  human  words.  Yet 
dost  thou  set  thy  love  upon  us,  nor  dost  thou  withhold  thy  light  from  our 
life.  Thou  didst  send  thy  Son  to  seek  us,  to  teach  us,  to  die  for  us,  the 
just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  unto  God.  He  was  delivered 
for  our  ofiences,  he  was  raised  again  for  our  justification,  and  we  come  to 
thee  in  his  name,  wide  as  the  heavens,  brighter  than  all  the  created  flames 
of  light,  and  we  ask  thee  for  his  sake  to  hear  us  when  we  cry  unto  thee. 

We  have  attempted  to  count  thy  mercies,  and  behold  the  daylight  hath 
failed  us.  We  have  set  ourselves  to  the  task  of  numbering  thy  compas- 
sions, and  behold  we  have  worn  out  the  shining  stars.  Thy  mercies  are 
more  in  number  than  the  sands  upon  the  sea-shore,  nor  is  there  anything 
in  heaven  above  or  upon  the  earth  beneath  that  can  set  forth  the  number 

lof  thy  tender  compassions.  We  breathe  of  thy  love,  we  eat  of  the  bounty 
of  thine  hand,  we  walk  in  the  light  of  thine  eye,  we  live  and  move  and 

Ihave  our  being  in  God.  We  cannot  escape  thee  :  though  we  slight  thy 
love,  yet  dost  thou  nourish  us  by  thy  goodness  :  though  we  may  not  have 
thy  Son  to  reign  over  us,  yet  must  we  look  to  thy  clouds  for  water  and  to 
thy  heavens  for  light.  Thus  dost  thou  lay  hold  upon  us  at  eveiy  point  ; 
by  thy  tender  and  mighty  persuasion  dost  thou  seek  to  constrain  the  soul 
to  obedience  and  homage  and  love.  May  we  this  day  answer  the  great 
demand  with  a  great  joy,  and  may  we  flock  to  thy  house  as  doves  flock  to 
the  windows,  and  may  there  be  joy  in  heaven  over  all  we  think  and  do. 

Every  heart  has  its  own  hymn,  every  life  has  its  own  flower  to  give 
thee  this  summer  day.  What  thou  hast  given  unto  us  we  give  unto  thee, 
for  we  have  nothing  that  we  have  not  received.  Thou  dost  teach  the 
hymn  we  sing,  thou  dost  inspire  every  holy  prayer  we  breathe,  thou  dost 


MATTHEW   VIII.     23-27.  41 

give  us  the  words  wherein  we  besiege  thy  throne.  Look  upon  each  of  us 
according  to  the  poverty  and  pain  of  every  heart,  scatter  thy  general 
blessings  upon  us  as  thou  dost  rain  the  impartial  clouds  upon  the  thirst- 
ing land,  then  come  to  each  heart  with  some  peculiar  gift.  Thou  knowest 
the  bitterness  of  every  soul,  the  dark,  awful  plague  of  every  heart,  thou 
knowest  the  crookedness  of  every  life,  thou  understandest  us  altogether, 
and  there  is  nothing  hidden  from  the  light  of  thine  eyes.  Nourish  and 
cherish  every  good  thing  that  is  in  our  heart,  bring  it  to  beauty  and  to 
fruition,  and  may  we  all  bear  abundantly  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  b*^ 
known  because  of  their  richness  and  plenteousness. 

Where  the  heart  is  bruised  and  the  spirit  is  wounded  because  the  chief 
hope  has  been  blighted  and  the  main  light  has  been  put  out,  do  thou 
come  with  peculiar  tenderness  and  heal  those  that  are  sorely  distressed. 
Where  there  is  yearning  for  those  who  wander  far,  and  may  even  be  lost 
to  our  human  sight,  where  the  parent  yearns  in  great  and  troubled  love  for 
the  sinning  child,  do  thou  send  all  the  healing  of  thy  long-suffering  and 
redemption.  And  where  the  child  crifes  for  the  lost  home,  saying,  "  I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father,"  give  him  power  to  return,  bring  him 
back  again  to  the  long-abandoned  house,  and  may  he  there  find  the  hos- 
pitality of  great  love. 

Regard  all  our  friends  who  are  sick,  in  pain,  and  in  fear  of  death. 
Thou  knowest  how  little  our  life  is  :  our  breath  is  in  our  nostrils — thou 
dost  frown  upon  us,  and  we  are  gone.  O  help  us  according  to  our  weak- 
ness, and  because  our  days  are  very  few  in  number  do  thou  fill  them  with 
all  the  grace  of  thy  blessing,  so  that  we  being  prepared  by  thy  training 
and  discipline  here,  born  again  and  sanctified  by  thy  Holy  Spirit,  may  be 
made  meet  for  that  better  city,  in  which  the  light  never  sets,  where  are  all 
the  good  gathered  in  immortal  convocation,  and  may  we  be  counted 
worthy  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  to  take  part  in  their  sweet  song; 
and  to  share  with  them  the  benediction  which  shall  encompass  eternity. 

Do  thou  look  upon  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray  :  for  the  prisoner  in 
the  dungeon,  for  the  soldier  in  the  battle-field,  for  travellers  by  sea  and 
by  land,  for  all  our  dear  ones  in  the  far-off  village,  or  in  the  far-off  coun- 
try. O  hear  us  when  we  sigh  for  Heaven's  blessing  to  rest  upon  all  after 
whom  our  love  goes  out  in  earnest  desire.  Take  us  all  under  thy  care  : 
rebuke  our  impatience  gently,  be  mindful  of  us  during  the  few  short 
flying  hours  that  yet  remain  to  this  earth-life,  and  in  the  hour  and  article 
of  death  give  us  that  sweet  sense  of  thy  presence  which  shall  abolish 
death.     Amen. 

Matthew  viii.    23-27. 

23.  And  when  he  was  entered  into  a  ship  his  disciples  followed  him. 

24.  And  behold  there  arose  a  great  tempest  in  the  sea,  insomuch  thaf 
the  ship  was  covered  with  the  waves  :  but  he  was  asleep. 

25.  And  his  disciples  came  to  him,  and  awoke  him,  saying.  Lord,  save 
us  :  we  perish.     (They  record  their  own  helplessness.) 


42  THE  GOOD  MAN'S  SLEEP. 

26.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Why  are  ye  so  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ? 
Then  he  arose,  and  rebuked  the  winds  and  the  sea  ;  and  there  was  a  great 
calm. 

27.  But  the  men  marvelled,  saying,  What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that 
even  the  winds  and  the  sea  obey  him  ? 

CHRIST'S  INWARD  PEACE  CONTROLLING 
OUTWARD  STORMS. 

**  T  T  E  was  asleep. "  Think  of  the  sleep  of  the  bad  man  ;  tired 
X  X  with  doing  evil  with  both  hands,  weary  In  the  cause  of 
wickedness,  having  done  his  last  bad  trick,  having  worn  out  his 
last  energy  in  following  that  which  is  evil  and  forbidden,  he  falls 
asleep.  Who  will  talk  to  him  in  his  dreams — what  images  will 
he  see  in  the  visions  of  the  night }  Suppose  he  should  never 
awake,  and  men  should  come  in  the  morning  to  see  how  he  left 
his  work — with  a  bad  purpose  broken  off,  with  a  programme 
inscribed  to  the  devil  half  wrought  through — who  would  care  to 
bury  him  ?  Would  it  not  disgrace  a  horse  to  carry  such  bones  to 
the  grave  .?  Is  it  not  a  prostitution  of  human  decency  to  touch  so 
foul  a  thing  ? 

Think  of  the  sleep  of  the  good  man  ;  weary  in  his  work  of  noble 
benevolence,  the  spirit  willing  but  the  flesh  giving  way,  with  the 
tear  half  dried  that  he  was  just  going  to  cleanse  utterly  from  the 
eye  of  sorrow,  with  the  word  almost  broken  off  at  the  middle  syllable 
that  he  was  just  speaking  in  the  ear  of  great  distress — overcome  by 
weariness  he  falls  down  into  a  dead  sleep.  Suppose  he  should 
never  wake  again — who  then  could  tell  the  world's  loss — who  could 
add  up  in  figures  the  deficiency  that  would  befall  the  average  of  the 
world's  intelligence  and  piety  and  beneficence  ^  When  some  men 
die,  they  make  the  world  poor,  they  leave  such  great  gaps  behind 
them  :  it  is  as  if  altars  had  been  broken  down  and  ways  to  heaven 
had  been  shut  up,  and  light  that  lighted  the  darksomeness  of  life 
had  been  put  out  with  a  rough  hand  suddenly. 

Do  not  account  too  much  of  the  bad  man's  sleep,  or  of  the  good 
man's  sleep — no  argument  is  to  be  founded  on  the  sleep  of  either. 
The  murderer  has  slept  on  the  night  of  his  crime,  the  condemned 
criminal  has  slept  on  the  night  before  his  execution,  the  good  man 
has  lost  many  a  night's  sleep  by  anxieties  which  he  could  not  con- 
trol.    We  are  not  therefore  to  make  any  moral  use  of  sleep  or  of 


MATTHEW   VIII.     23-27.  43 

sleeplessness  in  the  case  of  particular  persons,  but  all  men  do 
sleep,  and  many  may  never  awaken  out  of  their  slumber,  and  I  ask 
you  whose  sleep  would  you  like  to  have,  the  bad  man's  sleep — a 
weariness  that  comes  out  of  evil  practice,  the  high  and  venturous 
pursuit  of  forbidden  and  disastrous  prizes,  or  the  good  man' s  sleep 
— weary  in  his  work  but  not  weary  ^it,  only  going  down  into  the 
depths  of  sleep  that  he  may  come  up  as  one  refreshed,  to  renew 
all  that  was  sweetest  and  noblest  and  best  in  his  life's  toil. 

' '  Let  me  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  righteous,  and  may  my  slumber 
be  like  his."  So  say  we  all,  but  if  we  would  sleep  well,  we  must 
work  well,  if  we  would  have  the  angels  at  night  we  must  have  God 
during  the  day.  If  the  darkness  is  to  be  jewelled  by  stars,  then 
must  we  toil  with  filial  love  and  ever-heightening  delight  while  the 
sun  lasts,  to  make  men  wiser  and  truer  and  altogether  better. 
Sweet  is  the  sleep  of  the  labouring  man,  blessed  is  the  slumber  of 
the  soul  that  does  its  utmost  to  please  God  ;  it  is  prefigurative  of 
that  rest  which  remaineth  for  those  who  are  the  servants  of  the 
Most  High.  Look  on  the  bad  man's  sleep — it  is  as  a  beast  getting 
ready  for  further  blood.  It  is  as  a  man  whetting  his  instrument 
that  he  may  commit  deadlier  havoc  on  society.  Who  would  not 
pray  that  such  strength  might  never  be  renewed  .?  and  if  any  man 
have  strength  to  say  openly,  ' '  God  forbid  he  should  ever  awake 
again  on  earth,"  it  would  take  much  piety  to  keep  back  the 
"  Amen"  from  those  who  heard  the  supplication. 

We  have  now  therefore  to  deal  with  the  sleeping  Christ.  He 
told  us  that  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,  but  the  head  that 
is  weary  is  not  particular  about  its  pillow.  He  told  the  scribe  that 
he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,  and  yet  in  a  verse  or  two  farther 
on,  we  find  him  asleep.  If  on  a  pillow,  it  was  a  borrowed  one. 
He  does  not  contradict  himself ;  whether  he  have  pillow  or  no 
pillow,  he  must  sleep.  Behold  him  then  in  the  hinder  part  of  the 
ship,  behold  him  who  said  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,  lay- 
ing down  that  very  head  on  a  borrowed  pillow  and  sleeping  as  if 
he  nestled  in  the  heart  of  God. 

What  occurs  during  his  absence  in  sleep  .?  ' '  Behold  there  arose 
a  great  storm  in  the  sea,  insomuch  that  the  ship  was  covered  with 
the  waves. ' '  A  storm  always  arises  when  he  is  absent.  His  turn- 
ing away  from  us  means  the  opportunity  for  a  storm.  We  are  only 
at  peace  while  he  is  with  us  ;  everything  depends  upon  his  near- 


44  THE  SLEEPING   CHRIST. 

ness.  It  is  not  a  merely  negative  condition  of  things  which  he 
leaves  behind  him — not  only  is  the  light  withdrawn,  but  the 
darkness  is  sevenfold  ;  not  only  is  the  wind  troubled,  it  is 
troubled  even  to  the  point  of  tempest  ;  not  only  does  the  tide  roll 
as  usual,  but  it  foams  into  infinite  billows  and  our  little  life-ship  is 
tossed  upon  it  as  with  scorn,  and  we  are  threatened  with  mortal 
danger.  It  has  always  been  so  in  my  life.  A  sleeping  Christ  will 
do  me  no  good,  a  painted  Christ  will  not  be  of  effective  service  in 
my  life,  a  wooden  crucifix  or  even  an  ivory  cross  will  not  help  me 
— it  must  be  the  wakeful  Christ,  with  every  energy  astir,  power 
pouring  out  of  him  in  every  look,  and  in  every  movement,  the 
actual,  positive,  real,  personal,  living  Christ.  We  are  mocked  by 
his  figure — we  are  saved  by  his  personality. 

What  did  the  disciples  under  these  extraordinary  and  exciting 
circumstances }  They  came  to  him  and  awoke  him,  saying 
' '  Lord,  save  us  :  we  perish. ' '  They  came  to  him,  they  did  not 
go  to  one  another.  For  a  long  time  we  may  seem  to  be  equals  ; 
we  speak  about  the  average  of  human  strength  and  human  intelli- 
gence ;  we  say  all  men  are  tolerably  much  the  same,  it  is  a  long 
broad  line  of  equality  stretching  over  the  whole  human  sphere,  and 
human  nature  may  have  its  ups  and  downs,  but  as  a  whole  it  is 
almost  upon  a  level.  Then  there  are  great  crises  in  the  family 
when  the  chief  man  is  sought  out  in  a  moment.  We  know  him, 
he  cannot  be  disguised  ;  he  may  be  asleep,  but  he  is  the  chief  ; 
he  may  be  out  of  the  house  but  he  must  be  sought  for.  I 
thought  we  were  all  equal .?  So  we  are,  when  we  are  all  cold, 
when  there  is  no  immediate  necessity,  when  there  is  no  wolf  with 
open  mouth  and  gleaming  teeth  and  eyes  of  fire  standing  at  the 
front  door.  But  let  a  crisis  supervene  in  the  family  and  the  least 
child  in  the  house  intuitively  turns  its  eyes  in  the  right  direction. 
The  servant  seeks  the  master,  the  weak  calls  for  the  strong,  there 
is  always  a  point  of  supremacy. 

So  in  the  nation  :  when  there  is  nothing  particularly  stirring, 
we  are  all  about  equal,  we  lay  down  the  great  democratic  doctrine 
that  one  man  is  as  good  as  another,  and  constitute  ourselves  into 
a  mutual  commendation  society,  and  speak  of  one  another  as  if  we 
were  of  one  height,  of  one  compass  of  mind,  of  one  common  in- 
tegrity of  heart.  Suddenly  a  great  •  crisis  arises  ;  then  our  little 
and  comfortable  doctrines  all  depart ;  then  the  man  of  stature 


MATTHEW    VIII.     23-27.  45 

stands  up  ;  then  we  know  to  whom  to  look,  or,  not  knowing,  we 
divine  and  guess,  and  by  force  of  conjecture  we  create  the  man 
and  make  him  the  king  of  the  hour. 

If  anything  should  occur  in  your  business  of  an  extraordinary 
nature  you  will  soon  find  out  who  the  principal  is.  If  your  busi- 
ness should  proceed  in  the  ordinary  course  little  or  no  notice  will 
be  taken  of  you.  People  will  not  know,  perhaps,  whether  you 
are  in  or  whether  you  are  out ;  if  out,  how  long  you  will  be  in 
coming  in  ;  but  let  any  particular  crisis  arise,  and  you  will  be 
named,  you  will  be  the  necessity  of  the  hour,  and  there  will  come 
into  your  heart  by  the  grace  and  presence  of  God  the  energy  that 
will  meet  the  hour  and  stamp  it  with  conquest. 

The  disciples  not  only  came  to  Christ — they  came  in  the  right 
spirit.  "  Lord,"  said  they, — how  is  it  that  we  give  the  right 
names  when  we  are  in  the  right  mood  }  How  is  it  that  we  create 
terms  to  meet  necessities  .?  Suppose  you  had  met  those  men  on 
the  road  in  a  quiet  hour  and  had  said  to  them,  "  Now,  doctri- 
nally,  who  is  this  man  you  are  following  ?' '  Probably  their  answer 
would  have  been  superficial,  or  ambiguous,  or  inadequate.  You 
might  easily  have  led  them  in  the  direction  of  doubt ;  it  would 
not  have  been  difficult  to  have  troubled  their  incipient  faith  with 
many  a  dash  of  scepticism.  But  perishing,  in  trouble,  the  next 
breath  the  last,  they  seize  him  and  call  him  ' '  Lord. ' '  It  will  be 
so  with  a  great  many,  perhaps  with  some  too  late.  Many  will  say 
to  him  in  that  day.  Lord,  Lord  ;  and  he  will  profess  unto  them 
that  he  never  knew  them.  Some  confessions  come  too  late  ;  some 
homage  destroys  itself  by  its  tardiness.  Why  should  we  not  use 
our  calmness,  our  self-possession,  our  faculties  at  their  richest  and 
best,  and  make  recognitions  of  Christ's  relation  to  us  whilst  we 
are  in  a  fit  state  of  heart  and  temper  to  make  them  with  intelli- 
gence, and  breadth,  and  cordiality .?  Do  not  believe  the  cold- 
blooded tempter  or  evil  speaker,  or  sceptic,  or  infidel  ;  he  is  a 
mighty  man  when  there  is  nothing  to  fear.  I  do  not  know  how 
far  some  mockers  will  be  able  to  carry  their  mocking  when  grim 
death  with  bony  grip  seizes  their  flesh.  We  shall  hear  of  them' 
then — till  then  we  do  not  touch  them. 

Not  only  did  they  come  to  the  right  man  in  the  right  spirit,  but 
the  disciples  came  with  the  right  request,  saying  thus — observe  the 
completeness  of  that  word  and  its  marvellous  moral  emphasis — ■ 


46  HOW   TO   COME   TO   CHRIST. 

not  ' '  Help  us, ' '  not  '  *  Join  us  in  a  common  endeavour  to  save  the 
ship  ;' '  not  the  address  made  to  Jonah,  ' '  Arise  and  take  thy  share, 
and  call  upon  thy  God  as  we  have  been  caUing  upon  our  gods  ;" 
not,  "  Let  there  be  a  common  appeal  to  the  distant  heavens  ;" 
but  "  Save  us  :  take  the  whole  case  into  thine  hand  ;  we  fall  back 
and  are  nothing — go,  thou  mighty  One,  almighty  One,  to  the  front 
to  save  us."  We  cannot  do  without  that  word  save.  It  gets 
around  the  whole  compass  of  our  necessity  ;  it  touches  with  a 
marvellous  pathos  all  the  pain  of  our  moral  distress.  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  man,  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.  His  name  was  called  Jesus,  because  he  should  save  his  peo- 
ple from  their  sins.  He  is  mighty  to  save  :  he  is  called  the  Sav- 
iour, the  Man  with  the  long  arms,  the  Man  with  the  infinite 
strength,  whose  touch  is  emancipation,  whose  look  is  benediction. 
He  saved  others — himself  he  cannot  save.  Thank  God  !  If  he 
could  come  down  from  that  cross,  morally,  he  would  ruin  the 
world. 

With  what  prayers  have  we  come  to  Christ  1  Have  we  asked 
him  to  enter  into  co-partnery  with  us  in  the  doing  some  business 
in  life .?  Have  we  said  to  him  that  we  should  be  pleased  if  he 
would  make  out  what  is  lacking  in  our  own  strength,  that  we  might 
with  twofold  power  address  ourselves  to  some  difficult  engage- 
ment .?  I  wonder  not  that  the  prayer  lies  in  the  air  somewhere,  a 
wasted  thing,  a  bird  with  wings  too  weak  to  get  beyond  the  cloud 
line.  We  must  go  to  him  with  our  emptiness,  we  must  have 
nothing  in  our  hands,  we  must  have  nothing  but  a  great  distress 
to  hurl  upon  his  ear,  and  we  must  use  words  that  will  show  him 
that  our  self-renunciation  is  complete  and  hopeless.  If  you  had 
uttered  big  prayers,  you  would  have  had  big  answers.  If  you 
have  nibbled  at  the  heavens — I  wonder  not  that  their  dignity  has 
been  offended.  Let  us  go  to  Christ  with  nothing  to  recommend 
us,  with  our  blindness,  deafness,  dumbness,  our  complete  neces- 
sity, then  we  shall  see  how  he  will  answer  the  mute  appeal  of  our 
helpless  condition. 

What  answer  does  Christ  make  to  those  perishing  disciples  ? 
"Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith.?"  The  quiet  soul 
always  brings  quietness.  You  say  of  certain  persons  in  your  own 
house,  when  they  come  into  the  chamber  of  affliction,  they  seem 
to  centralize  and  to    quiet    everything  ;    their  composure    is    so 


MATTHEW   VIII.     23-27.  47 

serene,  their  self-possession  is  so  complete,  that  they  bring  with 
them  half  a  deliverance  from  the  distress  that  was  overwhelming 
you.  See  the  physician  in  excitement,  and  everybody  in  the  sick- 
chamber  goes  down  ;  see  his  face  quiet,  hear  his  voice  un- 
troubled, feel  his  grip  firm,  and  at  once  everybody  in  the  sick- 
chamber  takes  heart  again.  The  doctor  does  not  know  how  his 
face  is  being  searched  by  eager  eyes,  and  if  there  be  a  flush  in  it 
or  a  wave  of  suppressed  feeling,  it  is  interpreted  to  mean  disaster 
of  the  most  appalling  kind.  The  quiet  soul  brings  quietness,  the 
Son  of  Peace  brings  peace — he  creates  peace. 

There  is  only  one  storm  to  be  feared,  and  that  is  the  storm  of 
unbelief.  Why  are  ye  so  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?  There  is 
only  one  loss  to  be  deprecated,  the  loss  of  faith.  "  Simon, 
Simon,  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you  that  he  may  sift  you  as 
wheat,  but  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not. ' '  I  may 
lose  health,  money,  friends,  power,  but  if  I  have  not  lost  my  faith, 
I  have  lost  nothing.  I  shall  come  up  again.  Destroy  this  body 
and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  again.  Blessed  are  those  whose 
faith  is  greater  than  the  power  of  destruction  that  lies  around 
them. 

Lord,  increase  our  faith.  Faith  is  power,  faith  is  peace.  Pray 
only  for  faith,  for  that  wondrous  ability  to  trust  which  he  exer- 
cised and  manifested  who  said,  "  Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I 
trust  in  him. ' '  My  last  look  shall  be  a  prayer,  my  last  heart- 
throb shall  be  towards  the  heavens  :  if  he  has  torn  me,  he  will 
heal  me  ;  if  he  has  wounded  me  with  all  his  instruments,  on  the 
third  day  he  will  revive  me,  and  in  my  greater  joy  I  shall  forget  my 
lesser  woe.  Lord,  increase  our  faith — our  heart's  faith;  we  do 
not  mind  so  much  about  our  intellectual  faith — it  is  here  and 
there,  and  any  fool  can  twist  it — but  see  thou  to  our  heart's  faith, 
that  deep  inner  trust  that  lays  hold  of  thee  with  pertinacity  that 
cannot  be  shaken  off.      Lord,  increase  our  faith. 

I  cannot  give  up  the  miracles,  because  I  should  be  giving  up 
the  great  doctrine  that  mind  is  greater  than  matter,  and  without  that 
doctrine  we  should  be  poor  indeed.  I  hold  to  the  supremacy  of 
mind  ;  my  belief  is  that  the  spirit  is  the  mightiest  force  in  creation. 
GOD  is  a  spirit.  If  we  had  less  body  and  more  spirit  we  should 
be  quieter,  mightier,  wholly  grander.  I  will  not  have  it  that  the 
sea  is  mightier  than  mind  :  I  would  cling  to  the  belief  that  there 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  MIND. 


is  a  fire  in  man  that  can  astound  the  sea  and  awe  it  into  submis- 
sion. The  time  will  surely  come  when  mind  shall  be  acknowl- 
edged to  be  supreme,  when  the  Book  that  speaks  what  are  now 
romances  because  of  our  coldness  will  be  proved  to  be  speaking 
words  of  truth  and  soberness.  If  ye  had  faith  as  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard seed  ye  would  say  to  this  mountain,  "  Out  of  the  way,"  and 
it  would  be  cast  into  the  depths  of  the  sea.  I  am  not  content  to 
dwell  in  the  lowlands  of  the  merely  material  and  measurable,  in  a 
kind  of  conscious  imprisonment.  I  would  say  with  the  great 
Pascal,  to  the  sun,  ' '  I  am  greater  than  thou  :  thou  couldst  fall 
and  crush  me,  but  I  should  be  conscious  of  defeat,  whilst  thou 
wouldst  be  unconscious  of  victory." 

Be  careful  how  you  allow  77iind  to  be  displaced  from  its  regal 
position.  It  is  a  reflection  fraught  not  only  with  supreme  intellect- 
ual grandeur,  but  with  the  most  exquisite  moral  pathos,  that  the 
word  shall  be  mightier  than  the  difficulty  external,  that  the  ' '  I  will' ' 
shall  abolish  death  and  fill  up  the  grave  and  plant  its  face  with 
the  flowers  of  victory.  Do  not  too  readily  yield  to  those  persons 
who  would  snub  your  mind  and  magnify  the  mountain  outside  of 
you.  The  mountain  is  but  huge  mud,  the  sea  but  infinite  water, 
the  body  but  an  invention  for  the  moment,  but  mind — God  is 
mind  :  God  is  a  spirit.  There  are  difficulties  from  the  other  side 
of  the  case,  but  they  are  nothing  compared  with  the  difficulties 
that  would  immediately  be  created  by  the  displacement  of  mind 
from  its  royal  elevation. 

Jesus  gave  commandment  to  depart  unto  the  other  side,  and  a 
storm  arose.  Learn  that  storms  may  arise  even  whilst  we  are  in 
discharge  of  plain  and  divinely  commanded  duty.  If  these  men 
had  taken  the  ship  at  their  own  suggestion,  and  attempted  to  cross 
the  sea  for  their  own  convenience,  we  should  speedily  have  visited 
upon  them  the  penalty  that  they  were  worthy  of  the  storm  which 
overtook  them.  Let  us  learn  the  brighter  lesson  and  encourage 
the  grander  faith.  Storms  may  arise  even  in  discharge  of  duty. 
Do  not  create  your  own  difficulties.  You  are  a  child  of  God,  and 
you  have  a  great  sorrow  to  bear.  Do  not  reason  that  if  you  were 
a  child  of  God  you  would  not  have  any  sorrow — that  would  be 
sophism,  not  high  and  correct  reasoning.  You  have  a  great  diffi- 
culty in  your  business  :  do  not  reason  that  you  have  missed  your 
providential  way  because  you  are  encountering  this  terrible  obsta- 


MATTHEW   VIII.     23-27.  49 

cle.  The  disciples  were  actually  obeying  Christ  at  the  very 
moment  the  storm  seized  their  vessel — so  it  may  be  with  you. 
These  things  come  not  for  the  deepening  of  your  fear,  but  for  the 
quickening,  the  enlargement  and  the  completion  of  your  health. 

Danger  will  always  move  men  to  prayer — I  will  not  guarantee 
that  their  prayers  will  be  answered  :  the  prayers  of  the  wicked  are 
an  abomination  unto  the  Lord.  There  are  some  of  us  who  never 
pray  but  in  danger — I  dare  not  pledge  that  God  will  be  present 
to  hear.  He  may  be — his  mercy  endureth  for  ever,  but  if  he  were 
less  than  God,  he  would  not  be.  Your  own  mother  would  not 
be  ;  you  have  worn  out  the  last  filament  of  her  love.  Your  own 
father  would  not  be  :  his  eyes  have  been  cried  out  with  tears  that 
boiled.  If  God  were  less  than  God,  you  would  not  lay  hold  of 
him  even  in  the  bitterness  of  your  agony.  You  may  do  so — it 
will  be  because  he  is  God  and  Father. 

The  upshot  of  the  whole  was  that  the  men  marvelled.  A  poor 
outcome,  a  miserable  denouement, — they  marvelled.  We  are  like 
them,  we  are  great  at  wonder,  we  are  geniuses  in  the  matter  of 
being  open  to  surprise  and  amazement.  We  can  do  any  amount 
of  wondering.  There  is  a  wonder  that  is  legitimate,  there  is  a 
wonder  that  is  akin  to  worship,  there  is  a  surprise  that  may  lead  to 
faith.  With  such  surprise  may  we  be  well  acquainted,  but  beware 
of  the  round  eye  and  the  open  mouth  of  vulgar  wonder  which 
stares  at  a  miracle  as  at  a  show,  and  encourage  that  holy  amaze- 
ment which  looks,  then  shuts  its  eyes,  and  then  falls  down  in 
prayer. 


XXXIV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  hear  thou  the  petition  of  every  heart  offered  in  the 
sweet  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  name  that  is  above  every  name,  associ- 
ated with  the  cross  and  with  the  crown.  Every  heart  has  its  own  cry, 
every  life  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,  and  we  are  all  here  before  thee 
now  to  tell  thee  the  tale  of  our  sorrow,  and  sing  our  hymn  of  joy  in  thine 
house,  and  to  ask  thee  for  such  mercies  as  our  wasting  life  may  yet 
require.  Thou  hast  done  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are  glad  ;  thou 
hast  done  everything  for  us — we  have  done  nothing  for  ourselves  ;  of 
thine  own  have  we  given  thee  ;  we  have  lived  at  thy  table  ;  the  water  we 
have  drunk  has  flown  from  fountains  of  thy  making  ;  and  behold  there  is 
not  a  hair  upon  our  head  that  is  not  numbered,  nor  is  there  a  step  taken 
by  our  feet  which  thou  dost  not  notice.  Thou  hast  beset  us  behind  and 
before,  and  laid  thine  hand  upon  us  ;  and  the  air  is  full  of  thy  presence, 
and  musical  with  thy  voice.  We  desire  to  see  thee,  and  to  feel  thee 
everywhere — leave  no  vacant  place,  chill  us  not  by  thine  absence,  thou 
loving  One,  whose  heart  is  the  sun  of  all  worlds,  warming  them  and  mak- 
ing them  beautiful,  and  clothing  them  with  all  the  beauty  of  joy. 

Come  to  us  in  thine  house,  and  make  it  a  pleasant  place  to  us — yea, 
make  it  the  chosen  place  where  thou  wilt  reveal  thyself  to  our  vision,  to 
our  expectant  love,  to  our  broken  and  contrite  hearts.  We  bless  thee 
that  though  we  may  not  know  thee  by  our  understanding,  we  may  know 
thee  by  our  love  ;  though  thou  dost  shut  thyself  out  from  our  ability,  thou 
dost  reveal  thyself  to  our  sin,  and  pain,  and  want.  We  see  thee  through 
our  tears  ;  we  know  thee  by  the  subtle  processes  of  the  heart  ;  we  feel 
thy  nearness,  though  we  have  no  words  to  explain  thy  presence. 

We  have  hastened  to  thine  house  that  we  might  be  caught  in  the  plenti- 
ful rain  which  thou  dost  pour  down  upon  the  inheritance  of  thy  posses- 
sion. Spare  none  from  the  gracious  baptism  ;  let  the  reviving  shower 
fall  upon  every  heart,  the  meanest,  the  obscurest,  the  least  before  thee  ; 
and  may  we  return  to  our  abodes  as  men  who  have  felt  the  presence  of 
God  and  been  lifted  up  by  all  that  makes  his  presence  what  it  is. 

Thou  hast  shown  unto  us  sore  affliction  ;  thou  hast  dug  the  grave  too 
deeply  sometimes  for  our  poor  faith  ;  we  have  not  been  able  to  follow 
thee  as  thou  hast  dug  thy  way  down  to  the  very  rocks,  that  in  the  pit  thou 
mightest  hide  all  the  beauty  that  made  our  eyes  glad.  Thou  hast  shown 
us  great  and  sore  trouble  ;  that  which  we  have  straightened  out  thou  hast 


MATTHEW   VIII.     28-34.  51 

made  so  crooked  that  we  can  never  straighten  it  again.  Our  first  born 
has  become  a  liar,  and  our  last  born  has  run  greedily  after  the  devil,  and 
our  house  is  a  place  of  emptiness.  Thou  hast  sent  a  blight  upon  our 
fields,  and  suddenly  turned  away  the  tide  of  our  prosperity  ;  thou  hast 
given  us  days  of  anxiety  and  nights  of  sleeplessness  ;  and  as  for  our  poor 
strength,  thou  hast  utterly  withered  it  away. 

-  Yet  hast  thou  given  us  joys  which  could  only  have  grown  in  heaven  : 
thou  hast  blessed  our  eyes  with  light,  thou  hast  set  round  about  our  table 
all  pleasant  things  ;  no  grave  hast  thou  dug  except  it  has  been  in  the  gar- 
den, where  the  flowers  have  hidden  its  hideousness  ;  and  thou  hast  not 
smitten  us  but  in  love,  and  if  the  stroke  has  been  severe  the  kiss  of  thy 
love  has  been  all-healing.  Truly  thou  hast  spared  nothing  from  us  ;  thou 
hast  given  us  thine  own  Son.  So  hast  thou  dealt  with  our  life  so  that  it 
is  all  hill  and  dale — a  strange,  mysterious  undulation,  now  rising  up  into 
heaven,  and  now  deepening  swiftly  into  places  we  dare  not  enter.  Deal 
with  us  as  thou  wilt.  If  thou  wilt  take  the  last  lamb,  take  it — not  our 
will  but  thine  be  done.  If  thou  wilt  pluck  the  last  flower,  pluck  it  :  it  was 
thine  before  it  was  ours  ;  it  is  only  ours  because  it  is  thine.  If  thou  wilt 
send  us  prosperity,  send  us  modesty  along  with  it ;  if  thou  wilt  greatly 
revive  us  with  wondrousness  of  increase  of  life,  then  do  thou  touch  the 
heart  that  it  may  be  ready  to  answer  thy  greatest  gifts  with  sweet  hymns 
and  solemn  psalms  of  trust  and  love. 

The  Lord  send  a  blessing  to  every  one  of  us  ;  may  each  heart  have  a 
line  from  heaven  ;  let  an  angel  sing  in  every  ear  ;  let  no  man  feel  himself 
lonely  to  sadness  ;  let  no  heart  shiver  under  the  coldness  of  absolute 
isolation.  Revive  our  best  memories,  relight  our  noblest  hopes,  kindle 
the  passion  of  our  early  enthusiasm  for  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  and  this 
day  may  men  return  from  afar  wandering,  and  with  tears  and  love  and 
trust  and  yearning,  gather  around  the  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  give  to 
the  Lamb  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  their  repentant  and  undivided 
heart.     Amen. 

Matthew  viii.    28-34. 

28.  And  when  he  was  come  to  the  other  side  into  the  country  of  the 
Gergesenes,  there  met  him  two  possessed  with  devils,  coming  out  of  the 
tombs,  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  no  man  might  pass  by  that  way. 

29.  And,  behold,  they  cried  out,  saying.  What  have  we  to  do  with  thee, 
Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God  ?  art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the 
time? 

30.  And  there  was  a  good  way  off  from  them  an  herd  of  many  swine 
feeding. 

31.  So  the  devils  besought  him,  saying.  If  thou  cast  us  out,  suffer  us  to 
go  away  into  the  herd  of  swine. 

32.  And  he  said  unto  them.  Go.  And  when  they  were  come  out,  they 
went  into  the  herd  of  swine  ;  and,  behold,  the  whole  herd  of  swine  ran 
violently  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea,  and  perished  in  the  waters. 


52  THE  DIVINE  LOOkr. 

33.  And  they  that  kept  them  fled,  and  went  their  ways  into  the  city, 
and  told  everything,  and  what  was  befallen  to  the  possessed  of  the  devils. 

34.  And,  behold,  the  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  Jesus  :  and  when 
they  saw  him,  they  besought  him  that  he  would  depart  out  of  their  coasts. 

THE  SUPREME  MIRACLE. 

THIS  is  decidedly  the  worst  case  that  has  yet  come  up  in  the 
sacred  narrative.  There  is  always  a  testing  case  in  every 
ministry.  There  are  critical  hours  in  every  life.  Jesus  has 
been  with  wondrous  placidity  dealing  with  diseases  of  many 
kinds,  touching  them,  and  healing  them,  and  driving  them 
away  ;  but  most  of  the  cases  appear  to  have  been  what  we  should 
term  of  an  ordinary  kind,  though  there  was  nothing  ordinary  in 
them  from  any  point  of  view  but  his  own.  That  which  is  com- 
monplace to  him  is  a  miracle  to  us  ;  that  which  is  a  miracle  to  us 
was  a  commonplace  to  him.  We  do  not  occupy  the  same 
ground,  we  do  not  look  at  things  from  the  same  angle  of  vision. 
Here  is  a  test  case,  and  it  makes  me  tremble.  I  have  never  seen 
Christ  confronted  after  this  sort  before. 

The  men  were  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  no  man  might  pass  by 
that  way.  There  was  no  mistake  about  the  terribleness  of  this 
possession.  The  devils  had  been  in  the  man  a  long  time  :  he 
was  naked  ;  no  house  could  hold  him  ;  he  dwelt  in  the  tombs  ; 
he  was  driven  of  the  devil  into  the  wilderness — the  case  was  ex- 
treme ;  it  makes  me  tremble  ;  it  turns  all  other  incidents  into 
ordinary  events.  How  will  Jesus  Christ  do  7icrw?  We  have  put 
that  question  regarding  one  another  in  critical  circumstances  when 
great  distress  has  come  upon  the  life,  when  a  loss  of  property  has 
been  threatened,  when  particular  audiences  have  assembled  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  judgment — in  many  other  varieties  of  human 
experience  we  have  asked  concerning  our  friend.  How  will  he 
carry  himself  ncavp 

Whilst  we  are  wondering  what  Jesus  will  do  there  is  a  cry  of  fear 
from  the  other  side.  He  was  working  when  we  did  not  suppose 
he  was  doing  anything  ;  he  was  giving  one  of  those  silent  looks* 
which    eloquence    cannot  follow   in    descriptive  terms  ;     he  was 

*  See  a  discourse  on  "  The  Silent  Looks  of  Christ"  at  the  end  of  the 
volume. 


MATTHEW    VIII.     28-34.  53 

troubling  the  hidden  devils  with  light  which  they  only  could  see. 
The  cry  of  distress  comes  from  hell.  Is  there  something  in 
Christ's  face  that  troubles  the  evil  one  ?  Is  there  anything  in 
that  calm,  serene,  majestic  look  which  makes  hell  afraid  .?  He 
alone  was  quiet.  By-and-by  it  will  be  seen  that  this  is  the  exact 
relation  between  parties  in  the  universe  :  the  good  triumphant, 
the  wicked  cowardly  and  afraid.  It  does  not  look  so  now, 
because  the  wicked  are  too  demonstrative  to  show  their  real  char- 
acter :  they  make  a  noise  to  keep  their  courage  up,  they  fill  their 
ears  with  their  own  vulgar  din,  and  imagine  that  there  is  no  other 
voice  appealing  to  them.  If  I  look  at  society  from  one  point  of 
view  I  am  utterly  disheartened — my  hope  goes  out  of  me  :  it  is 
evidently  devil-ridden  and  hell-bound,  and  nothing  can  stay  it  in 
its  awful  course  ;  perdition  must  enlarge  its  borders  to  receive  our 
enlarging  civilisation.  When  I  gather  into  one  all  the  evil  think- 
ers and  evil  doers  that  are  in  the  world  I  feel  that  evil  has  the 
upper  hand,  and  that  God  himself  is  but  a  theological  term. 

Then,  again,  we  come  upon  incidents  that  give  a  new  point  of 
view  and  a  new  reading  of  human  events.  We  see  that  God  is  not 
dethroned  :  when  the  true  collision  comes  the  result  is  won  by  a 
look.  God  is  to  do  wonders  by  the  brightness  of  his' face  :  the 
silent  glance  is  to  be  as  a  sword  before  which  nothing  that  is  evil 
can  stand.  The  ever-speaking  but  ever-silent  face,  gleaming  with 
light,  glowing  with  fire,  is  to  make  its  way  through  the  universe, 
and  to  leave  heaven  behind  it.  Oh,  thou  speaking  man,  and 
book-writing  man,  evangelist,  apostle — call  thyself  by  what  name 
thou  wilt,  this  conquest  is  not  to  be  won  by  our  noise,  or  fuss,  or 
high  demonstration  of  religious  zeal — all  this  is  right  enough  in  its 
own  place  ;  it  is  part  of  the  plan  ;  it  hath  pleased  God  to  do  cer- 
tain things  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  ;  but  the  devil  is  to  be 
burnt  out  with  the  divine  look.  Hold  thy  little  light  aloft ;  speak 
thou  mightily  or  gently,  in  thunder  or  whisper  as  thou  wilt,  and 
do  what  little  lies  within  the  scope  of  thy  little  power  ;  but  under- 
stand that  the  final  disposition  of  the  devil,  and  the  ultimate  set- 
ting up  of  the  dominion  that  is  divine  and  beneficent,  is  to  be 
done  by  the  breath  and  the  power  and  the  glory  of  God.  A 
nation -shall  be  born  in  a  day,  the  light  shall  fill  the  heavens  in  a 
moment,  and  the  earth  shall  lose  her  cold  shadows,  and  in  the 
new  warmth  that  shall  penetrate  her  veins  she  shall  give  up  her 


54  TRUE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SELF. 

dead,  and  be  scarred  and  seamed  no  more  by  tombs  and  sepul- 
chres and  sanctuaries  of  death. 

Read  the  histories  as  given  by  Matthew  and  by  Luke,  and  re- 
gard them  as  completing  one  another,  and  as  forming  substantially 
the  same  incident,  and  you  will  see  from  its  graphic  colouring  what 
man  may  become.  Do  not  make  little  local  anecdotes  of  these 
divine  histories  ;  do  not  let  the  years  grow  between  you  and  the 
Book  of  God  till  they  separate  you  as  by  a  thick  wedge  from  all 
that  is  venerable  and  true  in  history.  This  incident  is  occurring 
to-day.  If  I  have  to  wander  over  a  wilderness  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  to  get  at  it  I  shall  tire  on  the  road.  It  occurs  next 
door — to-morrow  it  may  occur  in  our  own  house,. 

See  here  what  man  is,  what  man  may  become — what  man  really 
is  in  the  sight  and  estimate  of  God.  If  you  would  profit  by  this 
incident  see  yourself  in  it.  It  is  an  evil  temptation,  one  that  will 
deplete  you  of  every  true  sympathy  and  right  conception  of  history 
and  of  the  future,  which  leads  you  to  think  that  this  incident  oc- 
curred once  for  all,  and  became  an  exciting  and  romantic  anecdote 
in  the  neighbourhood  in  which  it  took  place.  Yoii  are  the  de- 
moniac :  /am  the  possessed  with  devils  :  they  have  never  awak- 
ened yet  altogether,  but  some  of  them  are  beginning  to  open  their 
eyes,  and  to  turn  in  restlessness,  as  if  about  to  rise.  Why  will 
you  put  the  Bible  away  from  you  thousands  of  years,  and  talk  of 
Moses  as  if  he  were  a  dead  man,  and  of  the  evangelists  as  though 
they  lived  only  in  epitaphs .-'  These  things  are  round  about  us 
now.  When  John  Newton,  the  celebrated  clergyman,  saw  a  man 
being  taken  away  to  the  scaffold  to  be  hanged,  he  said,  ' '  There 
goes  John  Newton  but  for  the  grace  of  God."  You  cannot  tell 
what  you  are  ;  that  is  no  merely  earthly  fire  that  burns  in  your 
blood.  If  you  want  to  see  what  you  may  become  go  to  the  mad- 
house. It  is  an  awful  church,  it  is  a  terrible  sanctuary  ;  but  if 
you  want  to  see  what  you  are  made  of  go  to  the  madhouse,  into 
its  very  vilest  and  most  appalling  quarter,  where  no  wise  word  is 
spoken,  where  no  noble  look  ever  illumines  or  elevates  the  human 
face,  where  no  prayer  to  heaven  is  ever  spoken,  where  there  is 
violence  extreme,  cruelty  only  kept  from  its  proper  issues  and  out- 
comes by  iron  and  granite,  and  all  the  forces  of  the  most  watchful 
civilisation.  Pick  out  the  worst  specimen  of  that  madness,  and 
see  yourself  in  those  eyes  of  fire  and  those  cheeks  livid  with  excite- 


MATTHEW   VIII.     28-34.  55 

ment,  and  in  that  whole  frame  shaken  and  torn  by  passions  that 
cannot  be  controlled.  I  am  afraid  you  have  been  too  daintily 
reared  :  I  tremble  lest  you  are  the  victims  of  your  own  respecta- 
bility. There  is  no  respectability  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  see 
the  contrast  between  the  madman  and  the  philosopher.  That 
contrast  is  nothing  as  compared  with  the  contrast  between  the  sin- 
ner and  what  God  meant  him  to  be  when  he  made  him  a  man, 
and  that  appalling  contrast  is  for  ever  in  the  sight  of  him  that 
made  us. 

When  I  take  this  view  of  human  nature,  which  is  the  only 
fundamental  and  profound  view,  all  others  being  shams  and  tricks 
of  an  inventive  immorality,  I  see  our  need  of  Christ.  The  doc- 
tor can  heal  my  skin,  the  nurse  can  cool  my  brow,  a  friend  may 
be  able  to  lull  me  to  momentary  sleep  in  which  I  may  forget  my 
troubles  ;  but  when  it  comes  to  the  point  of  agony,  and  I  see  the 
heart  as  it  really  is,  and  feel  it  as  if  it  were  on  fire  of  hell,  then  I 
know  that  no  water  can  quench  it,  but  only  blood  can  answer  the 
great  distress.  You  may  whiten  the  sepulchre,  you  may  make 
the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter  clean,  you  may  look  good  to 
the  eye  that  rests  upon  the  skin,  but  to  the  eye  that  reads  the  inner 
life  and  sees  every  filament  of  your  heart — to  that  eye  we  are 
wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying  sores. 

The  physiologist  tells  me  that  in  every  two  square  inches  of  the 
human  brain  there  are  two  hundred  million  of  fibres,  each  of 
which  can  receive  a  mental  impression.  I  am  lost  in  these  astro- 
nomical figures.  A  hundred  million  of  fibres  in  one  square  inch 
of  the  human  brain  !  No  theologian  told  me  that,  but  the  physiol- 
ogist, a  man  whom  everybody  is  ready  to  believe.  That  these 
should  be  kept  for  one  hour  is  surely  the  supreme  miracle  of 
heaven.  That  these  should  be  wrong  and  think  amiss,  and 
move  the  whole  life  in  a  forbidden  direction,  what  is  it  but  a 
tragedy  that  might  make  all  heaven  rain  oceans  of  tears  1  It  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  live,  it  is  an  appalling  thing  to  be  a  man  ;  there 
is  but  a  step  between  the  best  of  us  and  madness — yea,  they  who 
make  psychology  a  study  tell  us  that  thin  is  the  veil  that  separates 
genius  from  insanity. 

There  are  people  who  would  rather  have  devils  in  the  land  than 
have  Jesus  Christ.  The  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  Jesus,  and 
when  they  saw  him  they  besought  him  that  he  would  depart  out 


56  LIVING  ON  A   LOW  LEVEL. 

of  their  coasts.  The  devils  have  to  ask  their  places  at  Christ's 
hand  :  their  power  of  trespass  is  great,  but  it  never  impairs  the 
divine  dominion  over  them.  '*  Do  not  drive  us  out  of  the 
country,  suffer  us  to  go  into  the  swine,  tell  us  where  we  have  to 
be;"  and  he  says,  "Back."  He  orders  them  behind:  like 
hounds  that  are  afraid  of  his  voice  they  make  way  for  him.  No 
man  had  passed  that  way  before  ;  when  the  Son  of  man  passes 
that  way  he  clears  a  space  for  himself.  You  have  seen  ' '  Christ 
leaving  the  Pmstorium"  }  The  dominant  idea  of  that  grand  pict- 
ure to  me  is  that  as  he  comes  down  the  steps  the  whole  space  en- 
larges to  let  him  through — nothing  comes  within  touch  of  him. 
Somehow  the  great  painter  has  thrown  back  the  space  and  given 
him  room  enough  to  show  the  King  in. 

Now  that  his  great  conquest  is  completed  the  people  who  had 
lost  their  swine  came  to  him  and  besought  him  that  he  would  de- 
part out  of  their  coasts.  It  was  not  impiety  ;  it  was  a  great  fear. 
There  are  some  people  who  can  only  live  in  the  commonplace  ; 
who  hide  themselves  in  the  cellar  when  it  thunders  and  lightens. 
They  could  do  with  a  great  excitement  in  the  neighbourhood  if  it 
were  far  enough  off,  somewhere  among  the  tombs,  with  a  noise 
now  and  then  caught  in  the  wind  that  made  them  get  closer 
together  ;  but  the  great  fear  that  came  into  their  hearts  when  Jesus 
came  was  too  much  for  them,  their  commonplace  was  rudely 
shaken,  and  they  could  not  live  in  the  excitement  of  such  a  pres- 
ence. It  is  one  of  two  things  with  this  Christ  when  he  comes  into 
a  place  :  it  is  deadly  fear  or  infinite  rejoicing  :  he  is  a  savour  of 
death  unto  death,  or  of  life  unto  life.  He  never  comes  in  merely 
as  a  respectable  citizen  a  few  mches  higher  than  his  neighbours  : 
when  he  comes  the  land  cowers  in  great  fear  or  lifts  itself  up  in 
jubilant  delight  and  religious  rapture.  Do  not  believe  in  your 
Christianity  if  your  hearts  are  cold.  Christianity  is  nothing  if  it 
be  not  the  supreme  passion  of  life.  If  Christianity  does  not  put 
everything  else  down  and  set  its  regal  foot  upon  them,  you  have 
only  entered  into  the  letter,  you  have  not  come  under  the  inspira- 
tion and  blessed  dominion  of  its  spirit. 

Are  ther6  not  those  who  beseech  Jesus  Christ  to  depart  out  of 
their  coasts  because  of  the  effect  of  high  religious  conviction  and 
noble  Christian  sentiment }     Are  there  not  persons  who  put  trad^ 


MATTHEW   VIII.    28-34.  57 


above  man  ?  What  is  a  man  compared  to  a  good  balance-sheet  ? 
What  does  it  matter  what  becomes  of  the  man  if  the  master  is  all 
right  ?  What  do  I  care  what  becomes  of  my  servant  if  I  am 
happy  ?  Of  what  concern  is  it  to  me  what  becomes  of  the  weak 
so  long  as  I  am  strong  ?  There  are  cases  which  come  before  me 
as  a  public  man  which  cannot  come  before  you  in  your  strictly 
private  capacity,  which  make  me  weep  with  sadness,  and  I  blame 
some  of  you  for  some  cases  of  oppression  and  distress  which  dis- 
figure and  debase  our  civilisation  :  I  include  myself  in  the  waiting 
curse.  That  women  should  be  sitting  and  making  twelve  of  your 
carpet  bags  for  eighteenpence,  that  women  should  be  standing  day 
by  day  behind  the  counter  till  their  limbs  swell  and  blacken  and  they 
can  stand  no  longer,  that  women  should  be  made  to  decorate  your 
apparel  at  wages  which  will  not  give  them  one  single  hour  of  re- 
laxation or  wholesome  country  air— what  is  this  but  preferring 
devils  to  Christ  ?  I  do  not  know  where  tne  wrong  is,  altogether  : 
it  is  not  a  wrong  you  can  lay  your  fingers  upon  and  throttle,  it  is 
a  widespread  wrong,  and  nobody  is  responsible.  Doth  not  he 
that  pondereth  the  heart  consider.?.  When  he  maketh  inquisition 
for  blood  will  he  not  identify  this  and  that  man  and  yonder  fine 
lady  and  demand  the  price  ?  It  is  not  an  easy  question  ;  there 
are  faults  on  many  sides,  and  probably  the  whole  fault  cannot  be 
accumulated  and  set  down  at  any  one  man's  door.  Therefore  I 
would  speak  with  forbearance  as  to  the  direct  application  of  these 
doctrines  in  particular  instances,  but  do  not  let  us  run  away  from 
the  solemn  fact  that  there  are  people  in  the  world  who  would  set 
trade  above  man. 

There  are  those  who  calculate  the  expense  of  social  regenera- 
tion, there  are  journals  that  calculate  how  much  the  missionary 
societies  have  expended,  how  many  conversions  they  can  trace, 
and  they  have  divided  the  one  set  of  figures  by  the  other.  What 
can  you  expect  from  such  men  ?  Incapable  of  religious  enthusi- 
asm, they  are  incapable  of  social  justice.  There  are  those  who 
would  ask  how  many  swine  there  were  and  how  many  men  were 
cured,  and  they  would  divide  the  one  set  of  figures  by  the  other, 
and  talk  about  the  statistical  result.  I  hold  that  if  one  soul  can  be 
converted  in  this  house,  it  was  worth  building  the  place  for,  if  it 
should  be  burnt  down  to-dav.     We  should  work  for  men  ;  our 


58  CHRIST  MA  V  DEPART. 

whole  passion  should  be  human;  if  one  poor  little  child  could  say 
to  me,  "  Till  your  church  was  built  I  never  knew  Christ  :  having 
come  to  it  I  see  him  now  to  be  fairest  among  ten  thousand  and 
altogether  lovely,  and  I  give  myself  right  to  him,  if  he  will  take  so 
unworthy  a  thing" — if  that  could  be  the  result  of  this  ministry,  it 
was  worth  all  the  trouble  and  all  the  money,  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand  over  and  over  again,  and  multiplied  by  the  number 
of  all  the  stars  of  heaven.  Let  us  take  this  view  of  our  work.  It 
is  something  to  enliven  a  human  heart,  to  lighten  one  human 
burden,  to  dry  one  human  tear.  If  I  could  have  the  joy  of  think- 
ing that  this  had  been  done  by  any  exposition  of  this  narrative, 
whatever  might  be  set  upon  the  other  side  would  be  less  than  the 
small  dust  of  the  balance. 

The  people  besought  Christ  that  he  would  depart  out  of  their 
coasts.  They  accorded  him  a  negative  treatment  :  they  did  not 
violently  thrust  him  out,  they  courteously  besought  him  that  he 
would  go  away.  I  have  more  hope  of  those  who  violently  treat 
nim  than  of  those  who  politely  decline  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  him.  You  are  sitting  there  to-day  saying  of  yourself,  "I 
have  never  made  any  profession  of  religion."  The  greater  your 
shame.  You  have  besought  Jesus  to  depart  out  of  your  coasts  : 
you  have  no  high  feeling  against  him,  you  never  profaned  his 
name  by  vulgar  desecration  ;  you  attend  a  religious  place  of  wor- 
ship, but  you  make  no  profession  of  Jesus  Christ's  name.  You, 
on  the  other  hand,  say  that  you  leave  all  religious  questions  alone. 
You  have  besought  Jesus  that  he  would  depart  out  of  your  coasts 
intellectual,  speculative,  imaginative,  practical,  ideal.  He  is  not 
within  your  coasts  at  all — ^you  have  besought  him  to  go  away. 

Read  the  next  verse  in  the  next  chapter.  ' '  And  he  entered 
into  a  ship  and  passed  over."  He  may  go  then.?  Truly.  We 
can  get  rid  of  him  .?  Yes,  yes.  He  will  not  be  an  eternal  tor- 
ment }  No.  He  will  not  always  strive  with  me — I  can  shake 
him  off }  Yes,  you  can — will  you  ?  I  can  banish  him  .?  Yes, 
yes — ^you  can  stab  him  to  the  heart,  you  can  spit  upon  him,  you 
can  smite  him  on  the  head;  you  can  crucify  him,  you  can  get  rid 
of  him — but  if  you  do  get  rid  of  him  do  not  come  at  last  and  beg 
to  be  admitted  into  the  heart  that  you  have  wounded.  Be  con- 
sistent throughout.  Will  you  get  rid  of  him  }  Come,  say,  "  My 
Lord,  my  God,  cast  the  devils  out  of  me,  make  me  a  sanctuary,  a 


MATTHEW   VIII.    28-34.  59 

living  temple — abide  with  me. ' '     That  is  the  better  course.      Now 
is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation. 

Come  into  our  house,  Jesus,  and  dine  there,  and  sup  there,  and 
stop  the  night  there,  all  the  night,  the  life-night,  till  the  day  dawn 
and  the  shadows  flee  away. 

[For  a  parabolical  treatma  t  of  this  supreme  miracle  of  our  Lord  see  the  end 
of  the  first  volume.] 


NOTES. 

Verse  8. — Not  worthy.  "  The  proud  hill  tops  let  the  rain  run  off  ;  the 
lowly  valleys  are  richly  watered." — Augustine. 

Virse  14.^ — "  Peter's  wife  was  still  living  twenty-five  years  afterwards, 
when  St.  Paul  wrote  his  first  letter  to  the  Corinthian  Church,  i  Cor.  ix.  5. 
Probably  all  the  apostles  were  young  men,  not  much  over  thirty." — 
Conder. 

Verse  21. — Suffer  me  first.  "These  words  imply,  what  St.  Luke  ex- 
pressly records,  that  Jesus  had  laid  on  him  the  command  to  follow  him, 
which  accounts  for  the  subsequent  rebuke.  The  command,  moreover 
(Luke  xi.  60),  to  go  and  preach  the  gospel,  implies  that  this  was  not  his  first 
call,  but  that  he  had  been  a  disciple  for  some  considerable  time.  Some 
special  occasion,  therefore,  is  indicated  ; — perhaps  that  of  the  news  being 
brought  of  the  father's  death.  The  explanation,  that  the  disciple  wished 
to  go  and  reside  zvith  his  father  until  his  death,  though  ancient,  is  plainly 
wrong  (as  Stier  and  Alford  show)  ;  the  father  was  just  dead,  and  he 
wished  to  postpone  obedience  to  Christ's  command  to  filial  respect.  Had 
this  brief  delay  been  granted,  another  hindrance,  equally  pressing,  might 
have  presented  itself.  The  Lord's  reply,  though  at  first  sight  it  surprises 
us  by  its  sternness,  simply  carries  out  the  principle  that  no  plea  whatever 
can  bar  Christ's  claim  to  immediate  obedience  :  no  '  first '  can  take  pre- 
cedence of  that." — Ibid. 

Verse  26. — Rebuked  the  winds  and  the  sea.  "  This  seems  to  have  been 
almost,  so  to  say,  our  Lord's  formula  in  working  miracles  ;  the  fever 
(Luke  iv.  39),  the  frenzy  of  the  demoniac  (Mark  ix.  25),  the  tempest,  are 
all  treated  as  if  they  were  hostile  and  rebel  forces  that  needed  to  be 
restrained.  St.  Mark,  with  his  usual  vividness,  gives  the  very  words  of 
the  rebuke  :  '  Peace,  be  still  ' — literally,  be  dumb,  be  muzzled,  as  though 
the  howling  wind  were  a  maniac  to  be  gagged  and  bound. ' ' — Ellicott's 
Test. 


XXXV 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  very  gcod,  else  why  do  the  sons  of  men  live 
before  thee  ?  Their  hands  are  stretched  out  in  rebellion,  their  feet  are 
swift  to  run  in  ways  of  evil,  and  their  hearts  are  as  chambers  of  imagery 
in  which  they  commit  daily  idolatry.  Yet  dost  thou  spare  them  as  if  thou 
hadst  need  of  them,  thou  dost  not  sweep  them  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  thou 
dost  continue  their  generation  from  age  to  age.  Surely  thou  dost  remem- 
ber thy  covenant,  and  thine  oath  is  not  forgotten  in  heaven  ;  thou  dost 
keep  the  seasons  on  their  wheels,  never  dost  thou  stop  the  gracious  pro- 
cession— spring  and  summer  and  autumn  and  winter,  seed-time  and  har- 
vest thou  hast  ever  given  unto  the  sons  of  men,  nor  hast  thou  drowned 
their  earth  again  with  water,  nor  burned  it  with  infinite  conflagration. 
Behold  thou  dost  surely  love  us,  and  in  thine  heart  is  a  secret  place  for  the 
children  of  men.  Thou  didst  create  us  in  thine  own  image  and  likeness  ; 
we  bear  the  superscription  of  God  ;  we  are  ruined  indeed,  but  in  our  ruins 
are  traces  of  majesty.  Surely  thou  wilt  redeem  us,  though  it  be  at  great 
cost  ;  in  our  redemption  thou  wilt  not  spare  the  blood  of  thine  own  heart ; 
tnou  shalt  see  of  the  travail  of  thy  soul  and  be  satisfied,  and  with  a  great 
inbringing  shalt  thou  draw  the  nations  near  and  unite  them  in  one  offer- 
ing of  praise.  We  cannot  see  how  this  is  to  be  done,  the  horizon  is  full 
of  clouds,  the  whole  firmament  is  charged  with  thunder,  the  earth  is  out 
of  course,  and  the  foundations  are  shaken — we  cannot  tell  how  thou  wilt 
do  this  miracle,  but  thou  wilt  do  it,  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken 
it.  Thou  dost  not  take  again  thy  words,  thou  dost  not  cause  thy  prom- 
ises to  evaporate,  thou  dost  redeem  thy  word  and  turn  thy  promises  into 
the  facts  of  human  history. 

We  therefore  renew  our  faith,  we  relight  the  lamp  of  our  hope,  even  in 
the  sanctuary  itself,  and  with  thy  holy  book  open  before  us  we  take  heart 
again,  and  proceed  to  do  what  duty  and  service  we  can,  knowing  that 
those  servants  are  blessed  who  shall  be  found  waiting  and  working  for 
their  Lord.  Thou  hast  done  wondrous  things  for  thy  Church  :  her  stones 
thou  hast  laid  with  fair  colours,  and  her  foundations  with  sapphires,  her 
windows  have  been  of  agates,  and  her  gates  of  carbuncles — no  treasure 
hast  thou  spared,  the  whole  of  thy  treasures  have  been  gathered  around 
thy  Church  to  make  her  beautiful  as  the  Lamb's  bride.  Continue  thy 
gracious  work,  give  grace  upon  grace,  withhold  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  ;  by 
still  mightier  inspirations  and  still  further  baptisms  of  grace,  do  thou  work 


PRA  YER.  6i 

in  thy  Church  and  upon  it,  until  it  shall  be  without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or 
any  such  thing,  a  glorious  Church,  a  lamp  lighted  by  the  Lord's  hand. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  thy  Fatherly.  Motherly,  Shepherdly  care.  Our 
house  is  still  standing,  the  fire  is  still  burning,  and  the  table  is  still  spread. 
The  little  child  is  in  the  cradle,  and  the  old  man  in  the  arm-chair,  and  the 
window  is  full  of  light,  and  the  birds  gather  around  the  roof  to  sing  thei: 
summer  song.  Thou  dost  give  us  meat  in  desert  places,  and  water  in 
sandy  deserts  :  thou  dost  go  before  us  and  make  footprints  on  the  road 
lest  we  go  in  the  wrong  path,  and  stumble  and  fall.  The  very  hairs  of 
our  head  are  all  numbered,  thou  dost  count  our  heart-beats,  thou  dost 
beset  us  behind  and  before  and  lay  thine  hand  upon  us,  and  no  good 
thing  dost  thou  withhold  from  our  life.  Thou  dost  always  give  an  addi- 
tional blessing,  thou  art  always  giving,  thou  livest  to  give,  thou  didst  give 
thine  only-begotten  Son,  and  this  is  our  pledge  and  covenant  that  all  else 
shall  be  imparted  to  us. 

Help  us  to  understand  our  life  and  our  calling,  and  to  arise  as  those 
who  are  called  by  the  master  in  the  morning,  to  do  a  long  day's  work, 
with  all  heartiness  and  cheerfulness.  Make  a  man  of  the  weakest  of  us, 
turn  the  sick  of  the  palsy  into  one  able  to  carry  with  ease  his  own  bed, 
rouse  the  lethargic  and  the  indifferent,  make  the  young  zealous  of  thy 
glory,  inflame  them  with  the  fire  of  heaven,  and  may  they  this  day  conse- 
crate themselves  at  the  open  altar,  with  oaths  that  cannot  be  recalled. 

Comfort  the  aged  with  tenderest  solaces,  speak  a  word  to  ears  that  are 
deaf  to  all  voices  but  thine  own,  and  may  thy  gentleness  make  us  great 
and  thy  forbearance  give  us  heart  again  every  day.  Regard  the  sick,  the 
afflicted,  the  incurable,  the  broken-hearted  :  look  upon  those  who  are 
withdrawn  from  the  crowd  and  strife  of  life  and  put  aside  that  they  may 
know  the  bitterness  of  affliction  and  the  keenness  of  mortal  pain  :  they 
long  to  be  amongst  their  fellow-creatures,  to  carry  higher  the  banner  of 
the  heavens,  and  to  take  part  in  all  the  beneficent  activities  of  life  ;  but 
thou  hast  laid  burdens  upon  them  which  crush  their  strength,  and  thou 
hast  stabbed  them  with  pains  which  keep  them  in  the  shadow.  O  thou 
who  dost  as  thou  wilt — no  angel  strong  enough  to  hold  back  thine  arm — 
thou  wilt  not  keep  back  the  grace  from  those  to  whom  thou  hast  shown 
sore  distress. 

We  pray  that  every  hospital  may  become  as  a  sacred  church  this  day, 
that  all  the  wards  in  which  are  found  the  sick  and  the  ailing  may  be  visited 
as  it  were  by  angels  from  heaven  who  shall  speak  gospels  and  consola- 
tions to  those  who  are  hidden  in  the  darkness,  and  who  are  unable  to  ex- 
ercise the  functions  of  life. 

Let  the  Lord's  blessing  be  nigh  us,  and  we  shall  have  no  fear,  let  God's 
light  be  in  us,  and  we  shall  know  no  darkness,  let  the  Lord  bind  us  to  the 
sacred  cross,  and  altar  of  atonement,  and  our  blackest  sin  shall  have  no 
power  to  torment  our  soul.     Amen. 


62  CHRIST  REJECTED. 


Matthew  ix.  1-8. 

1.  And  he  entered  into  a  ship,  and  passed  over,  and  came  into  his  own 
•  city. 

2.  And,  behold,  they  brought  to  him  a  man  sick  of  the  palsy,  lying  on 
a  bed  ;  and  Jesus  seeing  their  faith  said  unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy,  Son, 
be  of  good  cheer  ;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee. 

3.  And,  behold,  certain  of  the  scribes  said  within  themselves,  This 
man  blasphemeth. 

4.  And  Jesus  knowing  their  thoughts  said,  Wherefore  think  ye  evil  in 
your  hearts  ? 

5.  For  whether  is  easier  to  say,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee  ;  or  to  say, 
Arise,  and  walk  ? 

6.  But  that  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins  (then  saith  he  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy),  Arise,  take  up  thy 
bed,  and  go  unto  thine  house. 

7.  And  he  arose,  and  departed  to  his  house. 

8.  But  when  the  multitudes  saw  it,  they  marvelled,  and  glorified  God 
which  had  given  such  power  unto  men. 

CHRISTIANITY  MORE  THAN  AN  ARGUMENT. 

"  A  ND  he  entered  into  a  ship  and  passed  over  and  came  into 
xA.  his  own  city. ' '  That  does  not  tell  us  half  the  truth.  A 
reference  to  this  verse  will  show  you  the  necessity  of  reading  the 
Scriptures  through,  and  of  paying  attention  not  to  the  text  only, 
but  to  the  context.  Anybody  would  think,  from  reading  this  first 
verse,  that  Jesus  had,  upon  his  own  will  and  motion,  returned  into 
his  own  city  :  we  should  have  no  hesitation  in  coming  to  the  con- 
elusion  that  Jesus  did  this  because  he  wanted  to  do  it  or  had  willed 
so  to  do.  Is  there  not  a  cause .?  Refer  to  the  verse  which  con- 
cludes the  previous  chapter  if  you  would  find  the  key  of  the  verse 
which  opens  the  ninth  chapter.  "  Behold  the  whole  city  came 
out  to  meet  Jesus,  and  when  they  saw  him  they  besought  him  that 
he  would  depart  out  of  their  coasts,  and  he  entered  into  a  ship 
and  passed  over."  Now  the  whole  case  is  before  you.  You 
thought  he  came  away  spontaneously,  whereas  the  fact  is  he  was 
driven  out.  He  never  leaves  the  human  heart  of  his  own  will ; 
he  never  said  to  any  one  of  you,  "  I  have  been  here  long  enough, 
I  must  now  leave  you  to  yourself. ' ' 

But  you  tell  me  that  Jesus  Christ  is  no  longer  with  you,  you  say 
you  sigh  to  think  of  happier  days,  you  recall  the  hour  when  Jesus 


MATTHEW  IX.    i-8.  63 

Christ  was  the  only  guest  of  your  heart,  and  now  you  mourn  that 
he  is  no  longer  present  in  the  sanctuary  of  your  consciousness  and 
your  love.  He  never  left  of  his  own  accord.  I  cannot  allow 
your  mourning  to  go  without  one  or  two  sharp  and  piercing  in- 
quiries.  How  did  you  treat  him — did  his  presence  become  a 
shadow  in  the  life — was  his  interference  burdensome — did  he  dash 
some  cups  of  pleasure  from  your  hands — did  he  call  you  to  sacri- 
fices which  were  too  painful  for  your  love  ?  Search  yourselves  and 
see.  I  never  knew  him  leave  a  human  heart  because  he  was  tired 
of  it,  weary  because  he  had  expended  his  love  upon  it — but  I  have 
known  him  whipped  out,  scourged  away,  entreated  to  go, 
banished. 

"  And  he  entered  into  a  ship  and  passed  over  and  came  into  his 
own  city."  •  How  he  looked  as  he  did  so  !  No  picture  can  ever 
tell  us  how  the  eyes  fell  upon  the  dust  in  shame  for  those  who  had 
desired  his  banishment.  How  his  heart  quivered  under  a  new  and 
sharp  pain  as  he  realised  that  he  was  indeed  despised  and  rejected 
of  men  !  How  he  felt  as  his  good  deeds  became  the  occasion  of  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  seen  them  to  send  him  away 
from  their  coasts  !  This  is  a  mystery  on  which  there  is  no  light. 
Do  not  imagine  that  you  began  the  story  with  the  first  verse  of  the 
ninth  chapter.  It  is  true  that  Jesus  entered  into  a  ship  and  passed 
over,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  people  besought  him  that  he 
would  depart  out  of  their  coasts.  So  when  my  heart  is  empty  of 
his  presence  and  I  wonder  whither  he  has  gone,  I  will  revive  my 
recollection,  I  will  command  my  memory  to  be  faithful  and  to 
tell  me  the  white  truth,  the  candid  fact,  and  when  it  speaks  it  will 
shame  me  with  the  intolerable  reminiscence  that  I  besought  him  to 
go.  Let  us  be  honest,  or  we  shall  never  be  healed,  let  us  face  the 
stern,  fierce  facts  of  life,  or  we  shall  make  no  progress  in  purity  or 
in  spiritual  knowledge, 

"A.nd  behold  they  brought  unto  him  a  man  sick  of  the  palsy, 

lying  on  a  bed,  and  Jesus,  seeing  their  faith "      Is  it  possibU 

iox  faith  to  be  greater  than  \h^  palsy?  Are  such  miracles  wrought 
in  the  consciousness  of  man  .?  Does  the  soul  ever  rise  in  its  origi- 
nal majesty  and  put  the  body  down  .?  Sometimes.  Is  it  possible 
for  the  will  to  be  so  inflamed  and  inspired  to  rise  above  the  palsy 
and  to  say,  "I  am  master  ! "  I  like  such  flashes  of  the  divinity 
that  is  within  us.     We  are  too  easily  cowed  ;  our  physicians  com' 


64  WHAT  CHRIST  SEES. 

plain  that  our  will  does  not  co-operate  with  their  endeavours,  so 
that  we  too  easily  go  down.  There  is  something  in  us  that  can 
conquer  the  palsy.  I  cannot  gather  together  all  the  subtle  influ- 
ences which  make  up  the  present  economy  of  things,  but  again 
and  again  in  the  history  of  others,  and  now  and  then  in  my  own 
history,  I  have  seen  such  a  rising  up  of  the  inner  nature  as  has 
said  to  the  body,  "  I  am  master."  I  magnify  these  occasional 
revelations  of  the  latent  force  of  a  kind  of  suppressed  divinity, 
until  I  see  death  dead,  the  grave  filled  up,  and  the  whole  universe 
full  of  life. 

Magnify  all  ihe  bcsi  hints  of  your  nature  ;  be  ready  to  accept 
suggestions  of  new  power  ;  never  take  the  little  and  dwindling 
view  of  your  life.  If  now  and  then  your  heart  leap  up  like  sparks 
of  fire  in  prayer  seize  every  one  of  them.  That  is  where  your 
grandeur  is  ;  that  is  your  true  self.  Caught  in  some  mean  con- 
ception, conscious  of  some  unworthy  fancy — know  that  that  is  the 
leper  that  has  to  be  healed.  Caught  in  some  rapture  of  worship, 
some  sweet  desire  for  heaven — know  that  that  is  the  angel  that  is 
in  you,  and  that  by  and  by  nothing  shall  be  left  in  you  but  the 
angel,  the  true  spirit,  conqueror  through  him  who  wrought  its  re- 
demption. 

"  And  Jesus,  seeing  their  faith "      That  was  just  like  him. 

He  always  sees  the  best  of  us  ;  he  never  takes  other  than  the 
greatest  view  of  our  life  and  its  endeavours.  "  And  Jesus,  seeing 
their  faith. "  Shall  we  amend  the  text.?  "And  Jesus,  seeing 
their — sectarianism."  That  would  fill  up  a  line  better  iYi'^n/ailh; 
it  is  a  longer  word  ;  it  has  more  syllables  in  it  ;  it  fills  the  mouth 
better — shall  we  put  it  in.?  "And  Jesus,  seeing  their — denomi- 
nationalism.  "  There  is  a  word  that  would  almost  make  a  line  by 
itself.  That  word  ought  to  have  something  in  it  ;  polysyllables 
ought  not  to  be  empty.  "  And  Jesus,  seeing  their — Congrega- 
tionalism, their  attachment  to  Episcopalianism,  their  deep  love  of 
Roman  Catholicism. ' '  I  fancy  we  cannot  amend  the  text.  We 
can  take  out  the  little  word /ait/i  and  put  in  the  long  words  I 
have  named  :  these  would  not  be  amendments  :  they  would  be 
spoliations  ;  they  would  be  blasphemies  ;  they  would  belittle  the 
occasion  ;  they  would  taint  it  with  a  human  touch.  Let  the 
wordyaitk  stand  ;  it  is  universal  ;  it  is  a  cord  that  stretches  itself 
around  the  starlit  horizon  ;  it  touches  those  of  you  who  belong  to 


MATTHEW  IX.    i-8.  65 

no  sect,  the  dumb,  the  groping,  the  wondering,  as  well  as  the 
clear-minded  and  the  positive  as  to  religious  principle  and  convic- 
tion. 

Jesus  Christ  always  startled  his  hearers  by  seeing  something 
greater  in  them  than  they  had  ever  seen  in  themselves,  and  always 
seemed  to  credit  his  patients  with  their  own  cure.  He  said, 
"  Daughter,  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole."  He  gave  the 
woman  to  feel  as  if  she  had  all  the  time  been  her  own  healer. 
And  the  broad  and  everlasting  meaning  of  that  assurance  is  that 
you  and  I  have  it  in  us  at  this  moment  to  get  the  healing  that  we 
need.  The  physician  is  here  ;  his  prescription  is  written  in  sylla- 
bles clear  as  stars,  and  in  lines  open  as  the  heavens.  What  he 
waits  for  is  our  faith.  Lord,  I  believe  ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief. 
Lord,  increase  our  faith.  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved.  Be  it  unto  thee  according  to  thy  faith. 
Believest  thou  that  I  am  able  to  do  this }  There  is  something 
then  for  us  to  do.  Find  it  out  and  do  it,  and  God  will  be  faithful 
to  his  word. 

"  And  Jesus,  seeing  their  faith,  said  unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy, 
Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  But  this  was 
a  question  of  ^h^  palsy  :  the  man  had  not  come  as  a  religious 
inquirer,  had  he.?  I  was  not  aware  that  Jesus  was  sitting  down 
somewhere  for  the  purpose  of  holding  religious  conversation  with 
people.  This  man  is  sick  of  the  palsy  ;  he  cannot  move  a  limb  ; 
it  requires  four  people  to  carry  him  ;  and  Jesus  Christ  gives  a  re- 
ligious turn  to  the  event.  We  want  this  sick  man  healed  ;  we  do 
not  want  to  hear  anything  about  sins  ;  we  are  not  religious  inquir- 
ers, we  are  afflicted  men.  How  we  do  belittle  everything  we 
touch  !  if  we  pluck  a  flower  it  dies.  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  All  these 
afflictions  have  a  common  root  :  sin  is  the  explanation  of  every 
scab  on  that  leper' s  brow  ;  and  look  at  the  trembling  in  that  par- 
alytic :  sin  drove  the  sight  from  those  eyes,  and  the  hearing  from 
those  ears,  and  the  strength  from  those  anklebones.  This  is  the 
accursed  work  of  sin. ' '  He  is  a  fundamental  Teacher  ;  he  does 
not  treat  symptoms  ;  he  treats  the  central  and  vital  cause  which  ex- 
presses itself  in  symptoms  so  patent  and  so  distressing. 

This  is  the  great  lesson  which  the  world  is  so  unwilling  to 
receive.      Give  us  Acts  of  Parliament,  give  us  better  houses  for  this 


66  DRAGGING    THINGS  DOWN. 


class  and  for  that  class,  give  us  better  drainage  and  larger  gardens 
and  better  ventilation,  and  we  shall  cobble  the  world  up  to  stand 
on  its  rickety  legs  ten  years  longer.  All  these  things  are  in  them- 
selves right  enough  :  no  sane  man  has  one  word  to  speak  against 
them.  If  they  be  brought  in,  however,  as  causative,  they  must  be 
rejected,  they  are  collateral,  they  are  co-operative,  they  are  help- 
ful, and  in  that  sense  they  are  necessary,  but  the  world's  stream 
will  never  be  pure  till  the  world's  fountain  has  been  cleansed. 
We  think  we  can  cure  the  world  by  officialism  and  by  small  sani- 
tary pedantries,  by  congresses  and  conferences — all  these  things 
have  their  place  and  their  use,  but  until  we  get  at  the  root,  and 
core,  and  centre,  and  heart,  we  are  as  men  who  are  throwing 
buckets  into  empty  wells  and  drawing  them  up  again.  The  world 
will  not  believe  this,  so  the  world  has  not  yet  risen  and  taken  up 
its  bed  and  walked. 

"  And,  behold,  certain  of  the  Scribes  said  within  themselves. 
This  man  blasphemeth. "  There  again  is  the  belittling  which 
man  does  in  all  his  interpretations.  O,  if  the  sermon  could  be 
equal  to  the  text  in  all  cases,  what  preaching  we  should  have  and 
what  hearing  !  Christ  said,  ' '  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee. ' '  The 
Scribes  said,  ' '  This  man  blasphemeth. ' '  We  always  drag  down 
what  we  touch  :  the  day  of  rapture  is  gone,  the  sacred  hour  of  en- 
thusiasm has  withdrawn  itself,  because  we  have  besought  it  to  de- 
part. Men  never  speak  in  fire  now  :  we  have  fallen  upon  an  age 
of  prudence,  and  word  measurement,  and  we  are  tricksters  in  the 
uses  of  syllables  and  in  the  adaptations  of  phrases,  and  never  get 
beyond  the  poor  range  of  little  speech,  or  utter  as  with  the  heart 
those  sentences  which  are  revelations.  We  like  to  hear  the  little 
mincing  voice  that  dare  not  utter  one  word  louder  than  another  ; 
we  like  to  hear  the  multiplication  table  repeated  every  Sunday 
from  the  first  line  to  the  last ;  we  like  to  keep  within  statistical 
proofs  and  references  that  have  been  scheduled  and  that  can  be 
verified.  The  great  prophet  of  fire,  Elijah,  is  gone — were  he  to 
come  again  w^e  would  take  him  by  the  throat  and  thrust  him  into 
the  dungeon. 

The  Scribes  were  right  from  their  own  point  of  view.  It  would 
have  been  blasphemy  in  any  one  ol  them  to  have  spoken  a  noble 
word  about  anybody.  There  are  some  throats  that  were  neyer 
made  to  emit  one  noble  sound.     There  are  men  to  whom  prayers 


MATTHEW  IX.    i-8.  67 

are  lies,  and  revelations  are  delusions,  and  prophecies  are  but  the 
witnesses  of  the  weakness  of  their  speakers.  A  man  cannot  hear 
above  his  own  level.  "  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear." 
Every  dog  has  ears — yes,  but  not  to  hear.  Men  carry  the  standard 
of  judgment  within  them  ;  from  the  little  man  the  little  judg- 
ment, from  the  great  man  the  noble  criticism,  from  the  divinest, 
the  divinest  love.  It  is  better  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  God  than 
into  the  hands  of  men. 

"  And  Jesus,  knowing  their  thoughts "     See  how  he  never 

relinquishes  the  spiritual  line  in  all  this  incident.  Jesus  seeing 
their  faith — that  was  a  spiritual  perception  :  Jesus  seeing  their 
thoughts — there  is  the  same  power  of  working  mental  miracles. 
He  reads  our  minds  ;  there  is  no  curtain  made  yet  bv  human 
hands,  how  cunning  soever,  that  can  shut  out  those  eyes.  He 
understands  every  pulsation  of  the  heart,  he  reads  every  motion  of 
the  will,  all  things  are  naked  and  open  to  the  eyes  of  him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do.  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  run  to  and  fro 
throughout  the  whole  earth — sometimes  the  universe  seems  to  me 
to  be  all  eyes  ;  I  am  surrounded  by  eyes  of  fire.  All  speech  seems 
to  sum  itself  into  one  pregnant  sentence — ' '  Thou  God  seest  me. ' ' 

Do  not  lightly  pass  over  these  words,  for  they  open  the  great 
sphere  of  the  mental  miracles  performed  by  Jesus  Christ.  We  are 
accustomed  to  read  about  his  physical  miracles  and  to  doubt  them. 
Any  Scribe  can  doubt.  It  is  no  great  thing  to  doubt.  The 
doubter  never  did  anything  for  the  world  ;  the  doubter  never  put 
one  stone  upon  another.  The  world  is  indebted  to  its  faith  for 
its  life  and  for  its  progress.  Jesus  not  only  cured  the  palsy,  he 
read  thoughts:  already  he  begins  to  forecast  the  day  when  physical 
miracles  shall  depart,  and  the  miracles  that  shall  astound  shall  be 
heart-readings,  and  heart-companionships  and  spiritual  revelations, 
and  moral  opportunities  and  destinies.  We  live  in  that  dispen- 
sation now  ;  miracles  of  an  ordinary  and  outward  kind  have  all 
gone,  but  the  miracles  of  the  Holy  Ghost  are  being  performed 
every  day. 

"  For  whether  is  easier "      It  would  appear — for  I  regard 

this  statement  as  elliptical —  that  some  thought  had  occurred  to  the 
mind  of  the  Scribes  that  it  was  easy  enough  to  say,  "  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee, ' '  but  the  thing  to  do  was  to  cure  the  man  of  the 


68  TRUE  RELIGION  IS  MANLY. 

palsy.  It  was  easy  to  talk  blasphemies,  but  what  about  perform- 
ing the  cure?  There  was  a  kind  of  self-gratulation  as  they  sug- 
gested that  Jesus  Christ  had  taken  the  easy  course  of  talking  blas- 
phemies and  letting  the  substantial  thing  that  was  to  be  done 
alone,  so  he  says,  "  Whether  is  easier  to  say,  '  Thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee,'  or  to  say  '  Rise  and  walk  '  ?"  The  Scribes  committed 
the  mistake  which  the  whole  world  has  ever  since  been  repeat- 
ing. Where  is  there  a  man  who  does  not  think  of  every  intellect- 
ual effort  as  quite  easy  ?  It  is  very  difficult  for  a  man  to  walk 
upon  a  tight  rape  across  a  river — that  is  something  amazing — 
worth  a  shilling  to  look  at,  but  for  any  man  to  preach — why,  of 
course  that  is  easy  enough  :  any  fool  can  do  that  :  everybody 
knows  that  anybody  can  preach  a  sermon  !  To  suggest  a  thought, 
to  flash  an  idea  upon  the  intellectual  horizon — any  man  in  a 
family  who  is  good  for  nothing  else  can  do  that. 

We  always  send  the  imbeciles  into  the  Church.  To  go  into  the 
army  requires  a  man,  and  to  go  into  the  navy  requires  a  kind  of 
man  and  a  half,  and  to  go  into  the  law  requires  a  good  many 
men,  but  to  go  into  the  Church — why,  the  soft  sap  of  a  family  will 
go  into  the  Church.  This  is  possible — possible  in  relation  to  all 
the  communions  into  which  the  great  Christian  Church  is  broken 
up.  There  are  no  doubt  soft  men  and  imbecile  men  in  every 
pulpit  in  Christendom  — that  is  to  say  in  every  section  of  the 
Church  in  Christendom — but  do  not  understand  that  the  intellect- 
ual is  always  so  easy.  It  is  sometimes  hard  work,  even  to  preach. 
There  are  those  who  think  the  spiritual  worthless.  It  is  easy  to 
give  advice  :  nothing  could  be  easier  than  to  address  oneself  to 
spiritual  necessities,  and  such  service  is  worthless.  Whoever 
thinks  of  paying  a  schoolmaster  or  a  preacher .? 

There  are  those  who  think  of  religion  as  merely  sentimental,  as 
having  no  practical  value  in  it  ;  yet  there  is  not  a  man  amongst  us 
\vho  does  not  owe  his  social  status  to  religion.  You  would  never 
have  had  the  customers  that  flock  around  your  counter  but  for  re- 
ligion :  you  would  never  have  got  your  debts  collected  but  for  re- 
ligion ;  you  would  never  have  been  saved  from  the  gutter  and  the 
workhouse  if  an  angel  of  religion  had  not  come  after  you  and 
brought  you  in.  Religion  is  not  a  coloured  cloud,  an  evaporating 
sentiment,  it  is  a  most  practical  factor  in  the  creation  and  redemp- 
tion and  sanctification  of  human  life. 


MATTHEW  IX.    i-8.  69 

' '  And  when  the  multitude  saw  it,  they  marvelled  and  glorified 
God."  Trust  to  the  great  broad  human  instincts,  and  do  not  ask 
the  Scribes  what  they  think.  Take  your  case  to  the  Scribes  and 
say,  "Gentlemen,  what  is  your  learned  opinion  about  this  man's 
cure?"  and  they,  having  rolled  themselves  round  and  round  in 
the  thickest  bandages  of  the  reddest  tape,  begin  to  consider.  I 
have  faith  in  broad  human  instincts  :  I  will  not  altogether  with- 
draw from  our  proverbial  sayings —  Vox  populi  vox  Dei — I  know 
the  crowd  has  been  wrong,  I  know  the  mob  has  been  out  of  the 
way  again  and  again  (I  am  not  speaking  of  mere  crowds  or  mere 
mobs  :  I  am  speaking  of  the  average  human  instinct  all  over  our 
civilisation),  yet  it  answers  the  true  voice  in  the  long  run,  it  knows 
the  right  man,  it  knows  the  right  cures,  it  knows  the  right  books. 
That  human  instinct  is  the  next  best  thing  for  our  guidance  to 
divine  inspiration.  Make  friends  of  the  people,  and  let  little 
cliques  and  coteries  rot  in  their  own  isolation. 

Observe  the  course  which  Jesus  Christ  takes,  "  But  that  ye  may 
know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sin. 
Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  go  into  thine  own  house."  We 
must  sometimes  prove  our  religion  by  our  philanthropy.  Some- 
times a  man  can  understand  a  loaf  when,  he  cannot  master  an 
argument  ;  sometimes  a  man  can  understand  a  kind  action  done 
to  his  physical  necessities  when  he  cannot  comprehend  or  apply 
the  utility  of  a  spiritual  suggestion  ;  you  do  not  relinquish  the 
ground  that  the  spiritual  is  higher  than  the  material  when  you  ac- 
commodate yourself  to  the  man's  weakness  and  say  to  him  in 
effect,  ' '  You  cannot  understand  this  spiritual  argument,  therefore 
I  will  come  down  to  your  ground  and  do  what  you  can  under- 
stand." Thus  the  Church  must  often  prove  its  religion  by  its 
philanthropy.  The  world  cannot  understand  our  creed,  but  the 
world  can  understand  our  collection.  There  are  masses  of  men  in 
London  to-day  who  could  really  not  understand  what  I  am  en 
deavouring  to  expound  :  it  is  beneath  them,  or  above  them,  or 
beyond  them,  but  they  will  be  perfectly  able  to  ascertain  what  we 
have  done  for  cases  of  necessity  that  may  now  be  appealing  to  our 
liberality. 

This  is  God's  method  of  proving  his  own  kingdom  and  claim, 
"  The  goodness  of  God,"  the  Apostle  says,  "  should  lead  us  to 
repentance,"     Every  good  gift  given  to  the  body  and  given  to 


/ 


70  AN  IRREFUTABLE  ARGUMENT. 

society  is  an  angel  that  should  lead  us  in  a  religious  direction. 
God  says  to  us  every  day,  ' '  That  ye  may  know  how  to  care  for 
your  souls,  I  will  show  you  how  to  care  for  your  bodies."  Now 
what  has  he  done  for  the  body  .?  Look  at  that  lamp  he  has  lighted, 
now  shining  as  the  southern  zenith  :  look  at  the  meadows  he  has 
spread  and  the  gardens  he  has  drawn  around  our  habitations  : 
look  at  the  loving  air,  the  hospitable  summer,  the  abundant 
autumn,  the  restful  sleep  of  the  winter — and  if  he  has  done  so 
much  for  the  body,  he  says,  "  But  that  ye  may  know  what  I 
would  do  for  your  mind,  for  your  soul,  for  your  higher  faculties, 
I  give  you  these  witnesses,  that  you  can  lay  your  hand  upon  and 
examine  for  yourselves. ' ' 

It  is  an  argument  I  cannot  refute,   it  is  an  appeal   I  would 
gladly  obey. 


XXXVI. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  have  heard  of  thine  anger,  but  we  have  not  felt  it  ; 
surely  thou  hast  shown  unto  us  only  thy  love,  and  made  thy  goodness  to 
touch  us  with  its  gentle  hand.  We  have  heard  of  thy  fire,  but  it  hath  not 
scorched  us  ;  we  have  been  warmed  by  thy  summer  sun.  Thou  hast 
been  to  us  a  God  of  love  and  tenderness,  thine  eyes  have  been  full  of  the 
tears  of  pity,  in  thine  heart  has  been  the  yearning  of  a  great  compassion. 
Truly  thou  hast  now  and  again  given  us  one  night  of  weeping,  but  the 
tears  endured  but  for  the  night  ;  they  vanished  in  the  morning  ;  then 
thou  didst  come  to  us  with  renewed  tenderness,  gentler  than  ever,  as  if 
thou  wouldst  make  the  night  of  trouble  the  beginning  of  a  better  and 
brighter  time. 

We  will  speak  of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord,  and  our  memory  concern- 
ing his  mercy  shall  be  vivid,  and  we  will  sing  unto  the  Lord  of  mercy  and 
of  judgment,  for  thy  ways  concerning  us  have  been  ways  of  compassion, 
and  thy  righteousness  has  been  attempered  to  our  weakness.  Wherein  we 
have  desired  to  be  better,  thou  hast  not  scourged  us  with  reproach  ;  when 
tears  of  pity  have  risen  to  thine  eyes,  we  have  been  encouraged  to  draw 
nearer  to  thee.  Behold  thou  dost  welcome  us  at  the  cross,  on  the  cross 
we  see  the  manifestation  of  thy  tenderest  heart-love,  and  there  we  meet 
thee,  having  broken  thy  law,  having  insulted  thy  Spirit,  and  there,  by 
looking  away  from  ourselves  to  the  slain  Lamb,  the  one  sacrifice,  the  infi- 
nite atonement,  we  receive  thy  pardon,  and  into  our  hearts  there  comes 
the  hush  of  an  infinite  peace. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  these  revelations  of  thyself  ;  they  startle  us,  yet 
afterwards  they  give  unto  us  the  utterest  comfort.  For  a  moment  they 
amaze  and  confound  us,  and  gradually  they  settle  down  mto  the  guests  of 
our  heart  that  enlighten  and  warm  and  cheer  it.  Evermore  do  thou  grow 
upon  the  vision  of  our  love,  fill  the  whole  horizon  of  our  life,  shut  out 
every  other  figure,  and  destroy  the  light  of  every  other  attraction. 

Abide  with  us,  loving  Father,  loving  Son  :  abide  with  us,  thou  Spirit  of 
life  and  Spirit  of  fire.  We  mourn  our  sin  ;  it  is  the  tale  we  tell  to  every 
sunset,  and  it  is  the  tragedy  we  renew  with  every  sunrise.  Our  very 
breathing  is  sin,  our  every  look  is  a  blasphemy,  our  every  thought  is 
stained  with  evil  or  imprisoned  within  the  compass  of  the  mean  earth. 
We  are  wanting  in  purity  and  in  nobleness  and  spiritual  freedom,  we  are 
the  slaves  of  sin — if  the  chain  be  broken  in  the  morning  it  is  riveted  anew 
at  night.     God  be  merciful  unto  us  sinners.     Thou  art  still  making  us, 


72  PRA  YER. 

thou  art  still  making  man,  thou  art  still  redeeming  us — whilst  the  cross 
stands  the  great  redemption  proceeds.  Thou  wilt  have  us  in  thy  holy 
keeping  ;  thou  hast  not  brought  us  to  this  hour  of  life  that  thou  mightest 
put  a  knife  through  our  heart  and  cast  us  away  as  worthless  ones  :  thou 
hast  not  extended  the  miracles  of  thy  grace  upon  us  that  we  might  be 
trodden  under  foot  and  forgotten  of  the  universe  ;  thy  purposes  towards 
us  are  good  ;  thy  meaning  is  inspired  by  love  ;  thou  hast  called  us  and 
sealed  us  and  inspired  us  with  holiest  hope,  and  thou  wilt  not  at  the  last 
let  us  drop  from  the  height  of  the  very  heavens. 

We  commend  one  another  always  to  thy  gentle  care.  When  we  are 
weakest,  then  do  thou  love  us  most  ;  when  we  are  furthest  away,  then  do 
thou  hasten  with  quickened  speed  after  us,  lest  we  pass  the  final  line  and 
can  no  more  be  found.  The  Lord  make  our  infirmity  the  ground  of  his 
kindness,  then  shall  his  mercy  endure  for  ever.  Pity  us  in  our  littleness, 
for  we  are  still  in  the  dust  ;  regard  our  infirmities  with  tender  compas- 
sion, for  we  are  still  far  from  home.  Show  us  thy  wonders  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  shape  the  stones  of  the  desert  into  a  temple.  Give  us  holy  de- 
sires after  thyself,  create  in  every  heart  a  mighty  prayer,  let  every  soul  go 
out  after  thee  like  a  bird  that  would  find  the  sun. 

Remember  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray — our  sick  ones  at  home,  the 
old  man  dying,  the  tender  mother  pining,  the  little  child  all  but  passing' 
away  from  the  earth  it  hardly  knows,  the  prodigal,  lost  of  men,  beyond 
every  eye  but  the  piercing  mercy  of  thy  love,  the  soldier,  the  sailor,  the 
traveller  on  the  sea  and  on  the  land — let  thy  mercy  go  out  after  all  these 
and  thy  blessing  be  upon  them  according  to  their  several  necessities. 
Omit  none  from  thy  benediction. 

Bless  the  land  we  love  the  most,  and  our  rightful  sovereign  the  Queen. 
Guide  our  legislators  and  direct  our  leaders  ;  teach  our  judges  judgment 
and  give  them  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  of  mercy.  Prosper  all  honest 
commerce,  help  every  honourable  man  to  gain  his  bread  in  plentifulness 
with  a  clean  heart  and  a  spotless  hand.  The  Lord  look  upon  all  our  edu- 
cational institutions  ;  sanctify  the  efforts  that  are  made  there  to  enlarge, 
enlighten,  and  cultivate  the  human  mind  ;  hasten  the  time  when  every 
one  who  can  sing  shall  sing  thy  praise  with  a  loud  and  cordial  voice,  when 
all  who  are  practised  in  high  arts  shall  turn  every  beauty  and  every  gran- 
deur towards  thy  heavens  as  an  offering  of  love. 

The  Lord  hear  us  :  we  shall  be  gone  to-morrow  :  we  have  already  seen 
those  who  have  gone  before  waving  their  farewells  and  telling  us  to  come. 
Keep  us  back  from  evil  thoughts,  evil  words,  and  evil  deeds,  establish  us 
in  a  course  of  righteousness  and  nobleness,  and  bring  us  in  thine  own 
time — the  sooner  the  better,  the  longer,  so  must  be  thy  will  done  and  not 
ours — to  the  green  country,  the  verdant  land,  the  sweet  Paradise,  the 
eternal  summer.     Amen. 


MATTHEW  IX.  9-13.  73 


Matthew  ix.  9-13. 

9.  And  as  Jesus  passed  forth  from  thence,  he  saw  a  man,  named  Mat- 
thew (Hebrew  name  Levi),  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom  (at  Capernaum), 
and  he  saith  unto  him.  Follow  me.     And  he  arose,  and  followed  him. 

10.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  Jesus  sat  at  meat  (called  by  Luke  "  a  great 
feast")  in  the  house,  behold,  many  publicans  and  sinners  came  and  sat 
down  with  him  and  his  disciples. 

11.  And  when  the  Pharisees  saw  it,  they  said  unto  his  disciples.  Why 
eateth  your  Master  with  publicans  and  sinners  ? 

12.  But  when  Jesus  heard  that,  he  said  unto  them.  They  that  be  whole 
need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick. 

13.  But  go  ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not 
sacrifice  :  for  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous  ("  an  ironical  admis- 
sion"), but  sinners  to  repentance. 

CALLING  TO  DISCIPLESHIP. 

"  A  ND  as  Jesus  passed  from  thence,  he  saw  a  man,  named 
Ix.  Matthew."  This  is  a  man's  account  of  himself.  Mat- 
thew is  the  writer  of  these  words.  Surely  he  was  most  modest,  for 
I  know  not  how  his  self-description  could  have  been  shortened. 
He  simply  describes  himself  as  "a  man  named  Matthew,"  and 
he  says  that  Jesus  saw  him  as  such.  There  he  understated  the 
case.  Imagination  turns  these  sweet  and  modest  words  into  great 
and  noble  enlargements  of  meaning.  Jesus  saw  a  man.  Was  he 
a  registrar,  numbering  the  people  in  ones  and  twos — was  he  a 
mere  statistician,  putting  down  the  human  family  in  arithmetical 
figures  ?  He  saw  a  man — he  saw  more  than  we  mean  by  that 
term,  he  saw  that  term  in  all  the  fulness — shall  I  say  in  all  the 
tragedy  .-• — of  its  meaning.  He  saw  the  ideal  man,  he  saw  the 
possible  man,  he  saw  the  undeveloped  acorn,  he  saw  the  germ  out 
of  which  might  come  whole  Bashans  and  Lebanons  of  strong 
growths. 

How  easy  to  pass  a  man — and  how  readily  it  comes  to  our 
tongue  to  call  some  persons  nobodies.  We  are  given  to  the  black 
art  of  contempt,  we  take  pride  in  it,  we  say,  "  This  man  is  little, 
and  that  man  is  contemptible,  and  yonder  man  is  nobody,"  and 
we  hurl  our  depreciatory  adjectives  at  all  and  sundry  whom  we  do 
not  care  for.  Therein  we  show  the  little  side  of  our  nature. 
Every  man  is  of  some  account,  every  man  is  somebody  ;  it  takes 


74  HO  IV  NAMES  ARE  GIVEN. 

a  Christ  to  warm  us  into  our  best  consciousness,  it  takes  a  look 
from  those  eyes  in  which  the  summer  shone  to  warm  us  into  en- 
couragement. Some  are  soon  snubbed,  they  are  easily  put  down 
—  a  frown  will  send  them  away  backward  for  a  whole  week  :  they 
can  only  live  in  approbation,  in  the  sunshine  of  kind  judgment. 
When  Jesus  Christ  looks  upon  a  man,  he  looks  him  into  a  nobler 
manhood.  He  wants  to  look  at  you — why  do  you  avert  your 
face .''  Turn  ye,  let  your  faces  meet,  and  you  will  never  forget  his 
look. 

He  was  a  man  named  Matthew  :  that  name  is  the  only  foothold 
which  the  writer  of  this  gospel  claims  for  himself  in  human  his- 
tory. We  cannot  tell  what  we  write  when  we  write  a  man's 
name  ;  it  is  nothing  to  us  but  something  to  go  by,  a  mere  handle 
or  convenience,  a  sound  that  is  an  identity,  pointing  to  a  particu- 
lar individual.  But  the  giving  of  that  name  took  a  whole  day  in 
the  family  long  since  :  it  was  canvassed,  it  was  made  matter  of  ref- 
erence, it  was  carefully  balanced  with  other  possible  appellations, 
it  was  prayed  over,  it  was  something  snatched  from  the  grave  that 
superior  excellence  might  be  remembered,  that  kind  memories 
might  be  vivified  through  the  generations  to  come.  Yet  how 
foolishly  people  name  their  children,  and  with  what  utter  igno- 
rance they  send  them  forth  with  appellations  the  most  misleading, 
and  sometimes  involving  the  most  cruel  irony  or  the  most  laugh- 
able burlesque  ! 

It  would  be  an  interesting  study  to  collect  the  Bible  names  and 
to  go  into  the  reasons  why  those  names  were  given,  and  then  to 
show  the  contrasts  and  discrepancies  between  the  names  and  the 
characters  of  those  who  bore  them.  Our  mother  Eve  said,  "  I 
have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord  :  call  him  Cain."  He  was 
gotten  from  the  Lord,  but  did  he  ever  go  back  to  the  Lord }  and 
it  is  difficult  to  think  that  the  Lord  ever  had  anything  to  do  with 
some  men.  Who  can  tell }  The  times  are  sadly  out  of  joint  : 
there  certainly  be  ironies  in  our  individuality  that  would  seem  to 
exclude  the  hand  of  providence  from  our  formation  and  direction. 
Yet  the  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.  We  are  lost :  he  is  in  quest  of  us — can  we  help  him  to  find 
us.'' 

"I  will,"  said  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  "call  him  Moses, 
because  I  drew  him  out  of  the  water. ' '     So  are  our  names  given  : 


MA  TTHE  W  IX.  9-13.  75 

they  are  monumental  names  or  memorial  names  :  they  represent 
affection,  interest,  kindness.  No  child  was  ever  purposely  called 
by  the  name  of  a  bad  man.  The  wicked  have  no  real  friends  : 
there  be  many  eagles  that  pluck  them,  there  are  no  angels  that 
bless  them.  Did  you  call  your  child  by  his  name  because  it  was 
the  name  of  a  drunkard?  Did  you  reason  thus  with  yourself, 
saying,  "  My  little  girl  shall  bear  the  name  of  a  woman  who  was 
notoriously  bad  and  because  she  was  notoriously  bad  ' ' .''  Have  I 
not  heard  you  reasoning  just  contrariwise  and  saying,  "We  will 
call  this  child  after  his  good  old  grandfather,  we  will  call  this  little 
girl  after  her  sweet  mother,  we  will  call  this  boy  after  the  name  of 
some  illustrious  character  in  history  ' ' }  When  did  any  man  ever 
go  up  to  the  upas  tree  and  pluck  one  of  its  deadly  twigs  and  put  it 
into  his  child' s  hand  to  be  known  by  through  the  handful  of  his 
days  .''  O  bad  man,  nobody  likes  you  :  they  may  smile  upon  you 
because  they  have  not  yet  got  the  last  shilling  out  of  your  pocket  : 
they  may  give  you  guest  room  in  the  house  because  they  cannot 
decently  thrust  you  into  the  appropriate  kennel — but  nobody  loves 
you.  The  memory  of  the  wicked  shall  rot,  the  candle  of  the 
wicked  shall  be  put  out.  Only  goodness  would  we  immortalise. 
There  is  still  left  in  this  poor  nature  of  ours  that  strange  instinct 
to  preserve  the  beautiful  ;  we  would  crush  the  poisonous  adder  ; 
who  would  willingly  slay  the  singing  bird,  so  blithe,  so  modest  .-* 

' '  Saul,  who  is  also  called  Paul. ' '  Thus  men  like  to  shuffle  off  the 
old  name,  because  they  have  put  away  the  old  character.  It  is  in 
our  power,  under  the  blessing  and  special  call  of  God,  to  put  away 
our  old  names.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  God  to  give  each  of  us  a 
new  name,  not  the  name  that  was  sprinkled  upon  our  brow  in  the 
baptismal  drops,  but  a  name  written  on  the  forehead  by  an  invisi- 
ble finger,  and  visible  to  none  but  the  Giver.  Have  we  received 
the  new  name  }  Do  we  carry  the  new  white  stone  }  Is  our  brow 
sanctified  and  ennobled  by  a  writing  not  to  be  read  by  vulgar  eyes, 
but  to  be  seen  by  every  angel  flying  in  the  midst  of  heaven  ?  is  a 
solemn  question.      Every  man  must  give  his  own  reply. 

' '  And  as  Jesus  passed  forth  from  thence,  he  saw  a  man,  named 
Matthew,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom."  In  other  words  he 
was  going  about  his  daily  business.  He  was  found,  he  was 
sought  out,  he  represents  a  special  class  of  the  Christian  elect,  of 
the  Christian  believer  and  worker.     He  was  following  a  despised 


76  THE  ROYAL   CALL. 


occupation.  There  are  despised  occupations  now,  there  are  occu- 
pations which  never  can  be  forgiven,  and  that  can  be  said  in  free 
England,  and  in  repubUcan  France,  and  in  democratic  America. 
There  are  some  trades  we  recoil  from,  and  yet  we  are  Christian 
professors  and  citizens  of  no  mean  city.  But  there  are  some  oc- 
cupations we  would  not  mention  if  we  could  help  it.  A  man  who 
is  a  chimney-sweeper  ;  who  would  like  to  be  a  relative  of  his } 

There  are  some  of  you  who  do  not  like  to  see  your  brothers 
when  they  are  in  their  working  clothes.  You  can  do  with  them 
on  a  Sunday,  when  they  have  got  their  best  garments  on,  but  to 
think  of  your  walking  with  some  fine  person,  and  to  see  your 
brother  come  up  with  his  fustian  jacket  on,  what  an  outlook  you 
take  upon  the  universe,  what  an  inquiry  flames  into  your  face  as 
if  you  were  most  astronomically  disposed  !  There  are  no  mean  oc- 
cupations, but  there  are  some  very  mean  occupants  !  I  do  not  say 
that  this  occupation  or  that  is  the  best  possible  in  the  world.  I  am 
not  called  upon  to  give  any  opinion  as  to  the  conflicting  merits  of 
occupations  and  professions,  but  I  want  to  see  the  man  through  all 
the  circumstances,  as  Jesus  Christ  never  failed  to  do.  The  Phari- 
sees called  Matthew  a  publican,  a  tax-gatherer,  a  sinner,  an  alien. 
So  was  called  Zaccheus,  but  when  the  turn  came  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
speak  about  Zaccheus,  he  said,  "  He  is  a  son  of  Abraham,"  and 
the  little  man  stood  up  a  king.  It  is  so  he  talks  about  every  one 
of  us.  When  he  sees  the  very  least  and  meanest  of  us  give  a 
homeward  look,  he  says,  concerning  such  a  looker  towards  the 
heavens,  "  He  also  is  a  son  of  Abraham. " 

"  And  he  saith  unto  him.  Follow  me."  Is  that  all }  That  is 
all.  Is  it  not  imperative  }  It  is  most  absolute.  When  do  kings 
say,  ' '  If  you  please  ' '  1  Who  ever  goes  to  see  the  Queen  by  her 
special  and  humble  desire  .''  I  have  always  noticed  that  when  the 
Queen  sends  for  any  one,  she  commands  them.  Why,  Jesus  Christ 
seemed  to  have  caught  the  trick  of  that  high  royalty.  ' '  Follow 
me,"  said  he.  Abolishing  every  mood  and  tense  fancied  and 
projected  by  the  fertile  brains  of  grammarians,  he  shut  up  human 
speech  into  the  imperative  mood.  I  like  to  hear  his  commands  : 
they  were  softly  spoken,  but  the^  were  commands  at  the  root  and 
core  of  them. 

He  commands  you  and  me  just  as  absolutely  to-day.  "  Fol- 
low me,  come  unto  me."     That  is  his  gentle  command,  his  im- 


MA  TTHE  W  /X.g-J2.  jy 

perial  but  compassionate  edict.  He  never  says,  ' '  Follow  me,  to 
do  me  any  service  that  I  cannot  do  without."  He  uttered  the 
word,  ' '  Follow, ' '  with  a  tone  which  meant,  ' '  and  you  shall  have 
all  heaven  for  the  following."  The  very  imperativeness  of  the 
tone  hides  a  gracious  intent.  This  is  no  scourging  tone  that 
would  drive  men  before  it,  it  is  the  tone  of  a  complete  assurance 
and  a  sublime  and  indestructible  purpose,  an  assurance  of  his 
own  sufficiency  to  meet  the  need,  and  his  purpose  to  cover  all 
human  necessity  with  the  infinite  fulness  of  his  unutterable  grace. 
Will  you  come  ? 

He  did  not  go  to  Matthew  and  raise  him  from  the  seat ;  he  did 
not  employ  any  mechanical  powers  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
Matthew  :  he  launched  his  word.  It  is  an  old  way  of  his,  it 
began  with,  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  as  if  light 
had  been  standing  behind  the  chaotic  mass,  waiting  for  the  word 
and  could  not  move  until  that  word  was  spoken.  The  Bible  is 
full  of  commandments,  but  the  commandments  are  not  grievous, 
they  are  not  the  utterances  of  an  arbitary  will,  but  the  subtle 
pleadings  of  a  heart  that  lives  for  us,  and  that  would  seem  to  be 
unable  to  live  without  us. 

' '  And  he  arose  and  followed  him. ' '  How  easy  it  is  for  soma 
men  to  rise  and  follow  Christ,  as  compared  with  others.  They 
seem  to  fall  into  the  way  of  faith  :  it  is  like  bringing  the  sun  to 
bear  upon  a  bud  that  wants  to  open,  and  that  is  just  waiting  for 
light  in  order  that  it  might  unfold  its  deep  and  sacred  beauty.  It 
is  so  easy  for  some  men  to  pray  :  they  seem  to  be  walking  up  a 
gentle  green  slope  to  meet  God  at  the  height  of  it.  When  other 
men  try  to  pray  it  is  like  climbing  up  a  rugged  steep  rock,  some 
of  the  stones  loose,  and  if  you  put  your  foot  upon  them  you  will 
fall.  It  is  so  easy  for  some  men  to  do  the  act  of  benevolence  : 
there  are  some  persons  to  whom  I  dare  not  state  a  case  of  neces- 
sity, because  while  I  am  stating  it  they  are  putting  forth  the  hand  to 
relieve  it,  and  others  need  long  pleading  and  much  pressure  and 
detail,  the  utterance  of  which  becomes  a  sheer  cruelty  to  the  man 
who  has  to  speak  it,  before  they  can  advance  the  smallest  testi- 
mony of  tteir  regard  for  human  suffering. 

It  is  so  easy  for  some  people  to  go  to  church  :  they  like  it,  they 
wait  for  Sunday  ;  when  they  open  their  eyes  upon  the  Sabbatic 
light  they  say,  "  Thank  God,  this  is  the  King's  day." 


78  MATTHEW'S  FEAST. 

"The  King  himself  comes  near, 
And  feasts  his  saints  to-day." 

Other  men  have  to  be  dragged  to  church,  and  the  "  Amen"  of  the 
preacher  is  like  the  utterance  of  an  amnesty,  so  quickly  and  cor- 
dially do  they  run  from  the  sacred  roof.  But  God  is  able  to  con- 
quer our  perversity,  and  to  subdue  our  obdurateness,  and  to  bring 
the  most  reluctant  to  his  throne  in  pious  and  loyal  homage.  He 
will  have  some  of  you  yet.  It  was  difficult  to  bring  you  here  this 
morning,  but  already  your  hearts  are  warming  towards  him  who  is 
the  Lord  of  the  house  and  the  King  of  the  day.  Perhaps  you  are 
saying,  ' '  He  was  certainly  kind  :  he  surely  took  a  noble  view  of 
us  ;  his  utterances  were  great  and  splendid  gospels  ;  if  they  were 
dreams,  they  were  not  gilded,  they  were  of  real  gold. ' '  So  far  so 
good  :  he  will  have  you  yet  :  help  his  conquest  by  your  consent. 
This  act  of  obedience  is  to  be  done  with  all  the  spontaneity  and 
impulse  of  love.  Christ  never  drags  a  man  after  him  :  he  is  no 
tyrannous  God  that  says,  "  I  will  bind  you  hand  and  foot,  and 
take  you  captive. ' '  We  run  with  the  feet  of  love,  we  follow  with 
the  credulity  of  intelligent  obedience.  My  Lord  calls  me,  I  must 
go  ;  I  know  his  voice,  its  infinite  sweetness,  its  tender  pathos — it 
fills  me  like  a  gospel.  Do  not  suppose  that  Christ  lays  a  mighty 
arm  upon  you  and  takes  you  against  your  will.  He  never  hurls 
his  omnipotence  against  the  sinner  :  his  commands  are  inspired 
by  love.  Hear  them  :  "  Rise,  he  calleth  for  thee.  The  Master 
is  come  and  calleth  for  thee."  No  other  man  ever  wanted  to  see 
you,  no  other  person  ever  cared  for  you.  Here  is  the  infinite 
solicitude,  the  unmerited  and  ineffable  grace. 

**  And  it  came  to  pass  as  Jesus  sat  at  meat  in  the  house,  behold 
many  publicans  and  sinners  came  and  sat  down  with  him  and  his 
disciples."  It  was  probably  in  Matthew's  house.  Matthew  was, 
by  all  historical  accounts,  not  a  poor  man,  but  one  who  could 
show  hospitality  of  the  kind  indicated  in  this  passage.  The  pub- 
licans and  sinners  came  and  sat  down  with  Jesus  :  that  was  an  un- 
conscious tribute.  How  is  it  that  we  are  drawn  to  some  people, 
how  is  it  that  we  know  certain  persons  whom  we  never  saw  before 
in  our  lives,  what  is  that  singular  mysteiy  of  kith  and  kin  which 
we  all  realize  when  we  have  spoken  to  certain  persons  five  minutes  1 
I  have  watched  the  eye  of  poverty  and  the  eye  of  grief  and  want. 


MATTHEW  IX.  9-13.  79 

and  I  have  done  so  this  very  morning.  A  poor  creature  was  way- 
laying a  few  travellers,  and  one  after  another  passed,  and  her  keen 
and  hungry  eye  saw  nothing  in  them  to  which  she  could  appeal. 
Then  one  I  saw  pass,  and  she  said,  ' '  Pardon  me,  sir — do  not  be 

offended "     How  did  she  know  to  whom  to  speak  ?     Is  there 

a  masonry  of  hearts  ?  Are  there  signs  in  the  face,  are  there  gleam- 
ings  in  the  eye,  is  there  something  in  the  walk,  are  we  revelations 
to  one  another  ?  Did  any  poor  soul  ever  stop  you  to  tell  a  tale  of 
grief  ?  Yes.  Thank  God  for  that  interruption  :  it  meant  a  great 
deal,  such  woe,  hunger,  pain  and  want  as  stopped  you  have  eyes 
that  can  read  the  heart. 

The  publicans  and  sinners  got  round  him  as  cold  people  get 
round  a  fire.  They  need  no  welcome  in  words  :  they  are  cold 
and  here  is  the  fire.  If  you  felt  the  cold  you  would  draw  near  to 
the  great  fire  of  Christ's  love,  and  until  you  do  feel  it  I  can  do 
nothing  with  you  or  for  you  but  declare  in  ardent  speech  the  excel- 
lence of  One  who  would  do  you  good  if  you  would  allow  him. 

' '  When  the  Pharisees  saw  it,  they  said.  Why  doth  your  Master 
eat  with  publicans  and  sinners  .''"  This  is  a  narrow  criticism  :  it 
abounds  in  every  time.  All  men  have  at  least  got  thus  far  in  the 
tormenting  art  of  criticism — they  are  able  to  find  fault.  He  is 
indeed  a  remarkable  imbecile  who  cannot  find  fault  with  some- 
body ;  he  is  indeed  much  neglected  in  his  education  who  cannot 
find  fault  with  any  sermon  he  ever  heard  or  with  any  person  he 
ever  saw.  ' '  Of  all  the  cants  that  ever  were  canted  in  this  canting 
world,  though  the  cant  of  hypocrisy  be  the  worst,  the  cant  of  criti- 
cism is  the  most  tormenting.  " 

How  did  Jesus  reply  to  this  narrow  criticism  ?  When  Jesus 
heard  that,  he  said,  "  They  that  be  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but 
they  that  are  sick.  But  go  ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  I  will 
have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice — I  will  have  the  reality  and  not  the 
sham,  I  will  have  the  thing  meant  and  not  mere  words  and  tricks 
about  it.  God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  wor- 
ship him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  So  Jesus  Christ  lived  in  great 
principles,  and  so  he  lived  above  public  opinion  :  he  never  lived 
in  defiance  of  it.  It  is  a  poor  criticism  of  our  Lord's  habit  and 
manner  amongst  men  to  say  that  he  defied  public  sentiment.  The 
true  criticism  would  be  that  he  lived  above  it.  he  dwelt  in  the  sane- 


8o  A   NARROW  CRITICISM. 

tuary  of  great  principles,  he  worshipped  in  the  temple  of  universal 
benevolence.  Any  fanatic  can  defy  public  opinion,  it  requires  the 
di^nest  of  saints  to  enthrone  himself  above  it  and  to  move  in  his 
sublime  course,  impelled  by  divine  inspirations  and  undegraded 
by  human  tempers  or  social  flatteries. 


XXXVIL 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  do  thou  lead  us  into  all  the  deeper  truth,  and  save  us 
from  the  narrowness  and  meanness  of  the  letter.  Give  unto  our  hearts 
that  keen  vision  which  sees  thee  afar  off,  and  knows  the  way  that  thou 
dost  take,  though  it  be  hidden  in  much  darkness  and  be  not  known  to  the 
carnal  reason.  We  would  be  no  longer  children,  tossed  to  and  fro  with 
every  wind  of  doctrine,  but  would  be  men  in  Christ  Jesus,  having  matu- 
rity of  understanding,  largeness  of  knowledge,  trueness  and  depth  of  sym- 
pathy, and  the  insight  which  is  a  continual  revelation.  Our  aspirations  are 
high  and  pure,  and  they  are  the  creation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the 
prayer  which  thou  dost  inspire  thou  dost  never  forget  to  answer.  We 
would  see  thee  in  the  sanctuary,  we  would  hear  thy  goings  in  all  the  prov- 
idences of  life,  we  would  behold  thy  supreme  beauty  in  the  Holy  Word 
— help  us  to  realise  all  these  desires  in  the  perfectness  of  their  meaning, 
then  shall  our  life  enjoy  a  wide  liberty,  and  before  our  spirits  there  shall 
shine  an  enchanting  and  contentful  destiny. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  thy  tender  care,  thy  patience,  so  great  as  to  be 
beyond  our  words  to  express  ;  thy  lovingkindness,  thy  tender  mercy — how 
shall  we  speak  of  these  without  taking  from  them  the  very  bloom  which 
is  their  charm  ?  Yet  must  our  hearts  refer  to  them  in  continual  delight, 
for  they  are  the  staff  and  the  joy  of  our  life,  our  great  defence,  our  sure 
and  eternal  protection.  Thou  hast  been  mindful  of  us  with  infinite 
care  ;  thou  hast  still  continued  unto  us  all  that  is  precious  ;  thou  hast 
given  unto  us  health  and  reasoning  power,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility  ; 
thou  hast  kindled  within  us  lights  which  are  not  of  the  earth,  and  hopes 
which  are  not  born  of  time.  Thou  hast  not  forgotten  the  wants  of  the 
body,  as  thou  hast  not  neglected  the  cry  of  the  soul  ;  but  we  are  what 
we  are  this  day  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  to  that  grace  would  we  now 
awaken  a  loud  sweet  psalm,  thanking  thee  with  glowing  hearts  for  all 
thy  wondrous  mercies  and  thy  tender  kindness. 

Thou  dost  do  with  us  as  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight.  We  cannot  alway 
tell  what  thou  doest  :  seldom  can  we  find  out  why  thou  doest  it,  but  it  is 
our  delight  to  find  our  rest  in  thy  power,  wisdom,  love,  and  in  all  the 
purposes  of  thine  almightiness.  We  rest  in  God,  we  stand  in  God,  we 
have  every  answer  to  every  difficulty  in  God.  Not  our  will  but  thine  be 
done,  for  thy  will  is  good  and  thy  purpose  is  full  of  mercy.  Undertake 
for  us  in  all  the  way  of  life,  we  humbly  beseech  thee.  When  the  wind  is 
high  and  cold  and  the  road  is  long  and  steep  and  lonely,  when  all  things 


82  PRA  YER. 

seem  to  be  in  conspiracy  against  our  rest  and  hope,  in  the  cloudy,  dark 
day,  in  the  starless,  cheerless  night,  on  the  broad  and  sunny  road,  every- 
where, on  land  and  sea,  in  city  and  wilderness,  do  thou  be  at  our  right 
hand — then  shall  we  be  almost  in  heaven.  Save  us  from  ourselves,  pro- 
tect us  from  every  enemy,  destroy  the  power  of  every  delusion,  lift  us 
above  the  influence  of  every  prejudice,  open  our  souls  to  receive  the 
whole  light  of  heaven,  and  give  unto  our  hearts  the  steadiness  and  the 
courage  which  can  abide  in  the  day  of  adversity  and  speak  for  God  and 
truth  in  the  time  of  darkness  and  trouble. 

We  give  thee  united  and  hearty  thanks  for  all  thy  tender  mercies  :  as 
heads  of  houses,  as  fathers  and  mothers  and  children  and  servants,  we 
unite  in  blessing  thee  for  household  gifts,  for  all  domestic  protection  and 
comfort  ;  as  men  whose  lot  is  cast  in  the  world,  whose  every  day  sees  a 
battle,  and  whose  every  night  is  broken  by  sleeplessness,  we  bless  thee 
that  amidst  it  all  we  have  the  shining  of  thy  countenance  and  the  assur- 
ance of  thy  presence  and  benediction. 

Hear  us  when  we  pray  for  those  who  are  not  able  to  be  with  us  and  to 
unite  in  common  prayer.  For  the  sick,  for  the  dying,  for  the  wounded 
and  lonely,  for  the  traveller  by  sea  and  land,  for  all  for  whom  we  ought 
to  pray,  and  after  whom  our  love  goes  out  in  searching  and  sacred  desire 
—the  Lord's  blessing  be  multiplied  upon  them  all,  brighter  than  the 
summer  noon-day,  tenderer  than  the  dews  of  the  morning. 

The  Lord  help  us  now  to  study  his  word  :  may  we  turn  over  its  pages 
with  modest  fingers  and  look  into  the  writings  with  reverent  hearts. 
May  our  whole  spirit  be  attuned  to  the  purposes  of  thy  gracious  revela- 
tion. As  for  our  sin,  we  know  where  to  bring  it  ;  we  bring  it  to  the 
great  cross  of  Christ  ;  we  behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world  by  whom  we  have  received  the  Atonement.  The  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin  :  bowing  before  his  cross,  trusting 
to  his  sacrifice,  looking  to  his  ministry,  each  of  us  would  d«sire  to  say 
with  all  the  urgency  of  his  heart,  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner." 
Amen. 

Matthew  ix.  14-19. 

14.  Then  came  to  him  the  disciples  of  John,  saying.  Why  do  we  and 
the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy  disciples  fast  not  ? 

15.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Can  the  children  of  the  bridechamber 
mourn,  as  long  as  the  bridegroom  is  with  them  ?  but  the  days  will  come 
when  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  from  them,  and  then  shall   they  fast. 

16.  No  man  putteth  a  piece  of  new  cloth  unto  an  old  garment,  for  that 
which  is  put  in  to  fill  it  up  taketh  from  the  garment,  and  the  rent  is  made 
worse. 

17.  Neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles  ;  else  the  bottles 
break,  and  the  wine  runneth  out,  and  the  bottles  perish  :  but  they  put 
new  wine  into  new  bottles,  and  both  are  preserved. 


MATTHEW  IX.  14-19.  83 

18.  While  he  spake  these  things  unto  them,  behold,  there  came  a  cer- 
tain ruler,  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  My  daughter  is  even  now  dead  : 
but  come  and  lay  thy  hand  upon  her,  and  she  shall  live. 

19.  And  Jesus  arose,  and  followed  him,  and  so  did  his  disciples. 

THE  SPIRITUAL  LAW. 

JESUS  CHRIST  was  always  pestered  by  little  questions.  It  is 
very  seldom,  if  ever,  that  you  hear  a  great  inquiry  propounded 
to  him.  Why  eat  with  publicans  and  sinners  .?  Why  eat  with 
unwashed  hands  .?  Why  heal  on  the  Sabbath-day  .?  Why  not  fast 
more  .''  These  were  the  small  enquiries  by  which  those  who  were 
immediately  around  him  and  were  observing  him  critically  or  in 
partial  sympathy  belittled  every  occasion.  A  man  is  known  by  the 
questions  he  asks.  Whoever  asks  any  great  question  concerning 
the  Bible }  Be  assured  that  he  who  asks  the  great  question  gets 
the  great  answer,  and  be  not  surprised  if,  in  reply  to  our  little  and 
superficial  enquiries,  we  receive  shallow  and  disappointing  replies. 
What  is  our  question  when  we  open  the  sacred  book  } 

The  persons  who  put  this  enquiry  were  honest  men.  They  were 
not  Pharisees,  they  were  the  disciples  of  John,  and  their  question 
was,  ' '  Why  do  we  and  the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy  disciples  fast 
not  ?"'  These  people  represented  those  persons  who  have  only  got 
so  far  as  the  gospel  of  abstention.  Many  of  us  are  at  that  point, 
the  very  first  and  meanest  in  the  Christian  life.  Our  Christianity 
consists  in  not  doing  things.  It  is  a  necessary  point  in  our  higher 
culture  :  no  man  can  work  up  the  line  which  has  upon  it  the  grim 
rough  words,  "Thou  shalt  not."  Yet  the  purpose  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  to  lead  us  away  from  the  negative  gospel  and  virtue  of  ab- 
stention into  the  glorious  gospel  of  ample  and  life-long  liberty. 

You  find  persons  whose  virtue  consists  in  abstention  from  vice  : 
it  is  a  kind  of  minus  quantity,  it  is  the  mere  negation  of  wrong. 
They  will  not  eat,  they  will  not  drink,  they  will  not  pursue  this 
pleasure,  nor  will  they  follow  after  that  delight,  they  will  not  be 
seen  in  such  and  such  company — that  is  their  lean  and  most  puny 
virtue.  It  is  necessary,  it  is  part  of  the  education,  but  a  man 
ought  not  always  to  rest  there.  Virtue  is  positive,  religion  is  em- 
phatic, the  true  spirit  is  one  of  liberty.  The  question,  therefore, 
which  we  should  put  to  ourselves  every  day  is,  how  far  are  we  yet 
in  the  prison  of  the  letter,  and  what  advancement  have  we  made 


84  IDEAL  RELIGION. 

into  the  kingdom  of  liberty  ?  True  virtue  would,  of  course,  con- 
sist in  being  able  to  go  round  the  whole  circle  of  legitimate  pleas- 
ures and  yet  to  keep  that  circle  in  its  proper  place.  He  has  grown 
up  into  the  fulness  of  Christ  who  can  sit  down  with  publicans  and 
sinners,  who  can  touch  pitch  and  not  be  defiled,  who  can  take  up 
serpents  and  play  with  them,  and  can  drink  any  deadly  thing  and 
it  shall  not  hurt  him  ;  but  who  has  attained  that  height  ?  That  is 
the  grand  liberty  that  is  yet  to  be  realised.  They  shall  take  up 
serpents,  and  the  serpents  shall  have  no  power  over  the  hand  that 
grasps  them,  and  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing  it  shall  not  hurt 
them, — the  soul  shall  be  so  much  better  than  the  body,  the  mind 
shall  kave  lofty  lordship  over  that  which  is  physical,  and  the  spirit- 
ual shall  triumph  over  the  material.  That  is  the  line  along  which 
our  education  has  to  proceed.  Do  not  scourge  it  unduly,  do  not 
hasten  it  with  the  impetuosity  which  is  not  wise.  The  most  of  us 
are  yet  virtuous  simply  because  we  are  not  so  vicious  as  we  might 
be. 

"  Why  do  we  and  the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy  disciples  fast 
not .''"  Religion  is  enjoyment,  religion  is  associated  with  wedding 
bells  and  wedding  feasts,  and  wine  drinking,  and  high  delight,  and 
infinite  liberty,  and  cloudless  sunshine.  He  who  binds  it  down  to 
other  ideas  forces  an  eagle  into  a  mean  cage  and  bruises  its  noble 
wings  with  iron  weapons.  He,  of  course,  would  be  the  grand 
Christian  who  made  every  day  holy  alike,  whose  Saturday  was  so 
holy  that  his  Sunday  could  not  possibly  be  holier.  But  we  have 
not  yet  attained  that  spiritual  excellence,  therefore  some  of  us  are 
obliged  to  set  apart  one  day  in  the  week  and  to  say  concerning  it, 
"  This  day  is  sacred  to  religious  purposes  :  we  will  call  it  day  of 
rest,  day  of  prayer,  day  of  hope."  When  we  have  completed  our 
Christian  education,  there  will  be  only  one  day  in  the  week,  and 
its  name  will  be  the  Sabbath  day,  the  Lord's  day,  every  moment  a 
jewel,  every  breath  a  waft  from  heaven,  every  exercise  nobler  than 
prayer,  even  as  noble  as  praise. 

Sometimes  this  high  ideal  of  religion  is  unduly  forced  upon  us 
by  thoughtless  people,  as  if  it  were  attainable  and  realisable  here 
and  now  by  every  professing  Christian.  Let  me  protest  against 
such  undue  urgency.  We  are  travellers,  and  therefore  we  go  one 
step  at  a  time.  We  are  mounting  a  ladder,  and  the  rule  is,  one 
round  at  once  ;  when  we  get  to  the  top  the  ladder  may  be  burned, 


MATTHEW  rx.  \\-\<).  85 

for  we  have  mounted  to  the  very  sanctuary  of  infinite  liberty  ;  but 
whilst  we  are  climbing  let  no  man  cut  one  round  out  of  the  lad- 
der ;  every  round  is  part  of  the  trying,  solemn,  but  most  salutary 
discipline  of  life.  When  we  have  attained  the  fulness  of  Christ's 
purpose,  and  are  all  shut  up  in  the  wedding  chamber,  eating  and 
drinking  with  him  from  morning  till  night  at  the  great  festal  board, 
then  all  our  money  will  be  sacred  ;  but  just  now  some  of  us  are 
obliged  to  put  away  into  God's  basket  God's  portion  :  we  are  so 
thievish  we  should  steal  it  if  we  did  not  seal  it  up  on  the  Saturday  : 
our  fingers  have  got  the  felonious  movement,  and  they  would  take 
that  money  if  we  did  not  seal  up  and  stamp  it  as  God's.  Do  not 
despise,  therefore,  the  man  who  is  yet  in  the  narrow  gospel  of  ab- 
stention and  whose  virtue  consists  in  not  being  vicious.  He  has 
undertaken  a  great  lesson  :  the  pages  are  very  long  and  the  print 
is  very  small,  and  therefore  it  is  not  often  that  we  have  to  turn 
over.  The  great  question  we  have  to  put  to  ourselves  is  whether 
we  have  got  hold  of  the  right  book,  whether  we  are  animated  by 
the  right  spirit  in  its  perusal.  If  so,  we  shall  come  to  \\s,  finis  then 
as  great  and  perfected  scholars,  we  shall  lay  hold  of  the  great  lib- 
erty and  shall  be  enfranchised  among  those  who  have  no  need  of 
candle,  or  sun,  or  moon,  for  the  light  is  from  God,  and  it  needs 
no  intermediate  atmosphere  through  which  to  come  to  us.  That 
is  our  resting  point  :  it  is  afar  off,  we  are  on  the  road,  faint  yet 
pursuing — in  that  pursuit  find  your  rest  and  hope. 

If  the  disciples  of  John  put  a  little  question,  Jesus  gave  a  great 
reply.  He  was  not  answering  them  only,  he  was  answering  the 
spirit  of  all  coming  time.  Herein  you  have  the  reason  why  some- 
times a  great  answer  was  given  to  a  small  inquiry.  The  individ- 
uals who  put  the  question  spoke  for  themselves  alone,  expressed 
their  momentary  fretfulness  or  surprise,  but  Jesus  Christ  in  every 
little  question  saw  the  enquiries  that  would  fall  upon  his  cause  and 
kingdom  through  all  time,  and  therefore  he  spread  out  his  answer 
beyond  the  immediate  occasion  that  elicited  it.  Hear  this  marvel- 
lous answer,  struck  from  him  in  a  moment.  "  Can  the  children 
of  the  bride-chamber  mourn  as  long  as  the  bridegroom  is  with 
them  }  But  the  days  will  come  when  the  bridegroom  shall  be 
taken  from  them,  and  then  shall  they  fast.  No  man  putteth  a 
piece  of  new  cloth  into  an  old  garment,  for  that  which  is  put  in  to 
fill  it  up  taketh  from   the  garment,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse. 


86  UNION    WITH  CHRIST. 

Neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles,  else  the  bottles 
break  and  the  wine  runneth  out  and  the  bottles  perish,  but  they 
put  new  wine  into  new  bottles,  and  both  are  preserved."  Christ's 
replies  were  all  extemporaneous  :  never  did  he  retire  to  consider 
any  question  that  was  put  to  him  :  the  answer  was  plucked  out  of 
his  eternity,  it  was  always  ready.  If  he  could  have  paused  for 
one  moment  he  would  have  lost  the  crown  of  his  deity.  In  the 
instancy  of  his  replies  was  the  fulness  of  his  light  :  you  had  but  to 
touch  him  with  right  fingers  and  you  drew  from  him  the  healing 
virtue. 

What  then  is  his  own  notion  of  our  union  with  him  }  The  fig- 
ure is  beautiful.  We  are  children  of  the  bride-chamber,  and  he  is 
the  bridegroom,  and  we  are  gathered  around  a  wedding  table,  and 
the  air  vibrates  and  dances  under  the  thrill  and  shock  of  the  wed- 
ding bells.  "  Fasting.?"  saithhe  ;  "  it  is  a  stranger  to  a  scene  like 
this,  it  is  an  anti-climax,  it  is  an  alien  that  cannot  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  this  fair  land."  We  are  not  called  to  gloom  and  mourn- 
ing and  falling  of  the  head,  nor  are  we  summoned  to  take  the  bul- 
rush and  sackcloth  and  ashes.  My  Father's  house  is  a  bride- 
chamber,  the  sanctuary  is  a  place  where  the  wedding  guests  as- 
semble, the  temple  of  the  Lord  is  the  place  where  the  life-wine  is 
poured  out  in  rivers  for  the  soul's  ample  drinking.  Child,  young 
one,  spirit  of  delight  and  hope,  you  thought  the  church  was  a 
gloomy  place  :  if  there  is  any  gloom  in  it,  blame  the  human  fingers 
that  brought  it  to  the  place.  The  high  ideal  of  the  church  is  joy 
in  its  keenest  accent,  pleasure  without  alloy,  the  very  ecstasy  and 
rapture  of  gladness.  Christianity — tell  the  world  that  her  ways  are 
ways  of  pleasantness  and  all  her  paths  are  peace.  When  Zion  is 
looking  round  and  considering  what  key-note  she  shall  take,  say 
unto  her,  "  Rejoice,  rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion." 

Yet  the  Lord  keeps  us  on  the  right  lines  for  one  swift  moment, 
quicker  than  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  In  this  passage  he  directs 
attention  to  the  highest  point  of  joy,  and  then  he  descends  to  the 
common  average  line  of  life,  and  says,  "  But  the  days  will  come 
when  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  from  them,  and  then  shall 
they  fast. ' '  Then  they  will  base  their  ceremonies  on  reason,  then 
the  ceremonial  observances  of  the  church  shall  not  be  priestly 
tricks,  for  they  shall  come  out  of  the  heart's  wound,  out  of  the 
life's  bitter  grief ;  they  shall  not  be  calendared  for  punctual  ob- 


MATTHEW  IX.  14-19.  87 


gervance,  according  to  the  movements  of  the  clock,  but  they  shall 
express  an  inner,  real,  secret,  profound,  unutterable  grief.  When 
that  black  grief  seizes  thee,  thou  needest  not  turn  to  some  man- 
written  diary  to  know  whether  it  is  fast-day  or  not.  Every  heart 
will  be  its  own  calendar,  every  life  will  keep  its  own  fasts,  and  no 
man  needs  ask  the  meaning  of  the  dejection  which  shall  then  pict- 
ure itself  on  the  worn  face.  It  shall  bear  so  clearly  the  auto- 
graph of  the  heart,  that  no  man,  wayfaring  or  foolish,  can  misread 
such  writing. 

There  are  those  who  ask  questions  about  fasts  and  feasts  and 
new  moons  and  special  days — mechanical  scholars,  mechanical 
Christians,  technical  purists,  persons  who  need  to  go  to  ink-writ- 
ten paper  to  know  Avhat  they  have  to  do  next.  Is  the  bridegroom 
with  you  .?  If  you  can  say  ' '  Yes, ' '  then  eat  and  drink,  yea  eat 
and  drink  abundantly,  and  let  your  soul  delight  itself  in  fatness, 
whatever  the  calendar  may  say.  Has  the  bridegroom  gone — is  his 
chair  vacant — is  his  sunlike  face  no  more  the  centre  of  the  feast 
and  the  security  of  its  delight }  I  need  not  exhort  you  to  grief 
and  mourning,  the  heart  will  know  what  to  do  :  follow  the  intui- 
tions of  the  heart  in  these  matters,  and  then  your  ceremonies  will 
not  be  tricks  of  the  hand,  but  expressions  of  the  inner  life,  your 
fasting  and  your  feasting  shall  be  accounted  sacraments  in  Heaven. 

Nor  was  the  answer  parabolically  beautiful  only,  it  was  philo- 
sophically broad  and  true.  No  man  putteth  a  piece  of  new  cloth 
into  an  old  garment,  for  that  which  is  put  in  to  fill  it  up  taketh 
from  the  garment,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse.  You  are  not  to 
be  partly  one  thing  and  partly  another  :  the  left  hand  is  not  to  be 
a  Jew  and  the  right  hand  a  Christian.  That  is  not  Christ's  idea  of 
his  own  purpose  and  his  own  kingdom.  We  are  one  thing  only. 
There  are  those  that  are  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  there 
are  those  that  are  greatest ;  but  they  are  all  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  and  he  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  is  greater 
than  he  that  is  greatest  outside.  You  cannot  be  both  Jew  and 
Christian,  both  believer  and  unbeliever,  both  infidel  and  worship- 
per. You  are  the  one  or  you  are  the  other,  and  if  you  are  trying 
to  unite  the  two,  then  you  will  know  by  experience  and  loss  that 
men  who  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles  lose  both  the  bottles  and 
the  wine.  What  are  you  .''  Under  whose  banner  do  you  come  } 
Whose  name  do  you  bear  ?     I  ask  not  whether  you  are  giants  in 


88  FREEDOM  IN  RELIGIOUS  HABITS. 

the  kingdom,  but  whether  you  are  little  children  in  the  house, 
just  breathing,  crying,  cooing,  laughing,  wondering,  looking  with 
eyes  that  are  all  wonder  and  but  little  vision.  Let  your  hearts  re- 
ply, and  according  to  their  answer  let  the  exhortation  come,  for 
no  other  exhortation  can  touch  the  reality  of  the  case. 

Do  not  fast  by  rule,  do  not  go  to  church  because  of  mere  cus- 
tom, do  not  read  the  Bible  according  to  the  measurement  which 
you  have  laid  out.  If  you  are  still  in  the  state  of  pupilage  which 
requires  such  mechanical  help,  far  be  it  from  me  to  deny  you  the 
advantage  of  such  assistance.  Some  of  you  will  need  to  say  you 
will  read  so  much  scripture  to-day  and  to-morrow  :  if  any  of  you 
have  grown  away  from  that  mechanical  arrangement,  as  I  trust 
most  of  us  have  done,  do  not  visit  with  severity  of  criticism  your 
opinions  upon  those  who  have  not  attained  your  height  of  excel- 
lence. I  cannot  bind  myself  to  read  so  many  verses  jn  the  day, 
nor  can  I  bind  myself  to  fast  on  this  day  month.  I  must  let  the 
day  bring  its  own  religion,  I  must  let  the  day  deliver  its  own  let- 
ters, I  must  let  the  day  bring  its  own  angels.  I  cannot  forecast 
my  religious  doings  and  observances  :  to-morrow  the  bridegroom 
may  have  gone,  and  I  shall  not  need  you  to  tell  me  to  fast  :  my 
head  will  sink,  and  in  the  chamber  of  the  heart  there  will  be  a 
great  vacancy  and  a  fatal  gloom.  To-morrow  he  may  come  back, 
and  this  hand  will  thrust  itself  out  to  find  the  rope  that  rings  the 
loudest  bell.  God  make  us  all  real,  for  reality  is  the  glory  of 
piety. 

I  am  surprised  that  I  find  so  good  a  stopping  place  in  the  sev- 
enteenth verse,  yet  the  eighteenth  verse  opens  in  a  way  which  con- 
strains me  to  go  on.      ' '  While  he  yet  spake  these  things  unto 

them ' '   Christ  was  a  speaker  that  was  often  interrupted.      Some 

of  us  meaner  talkers  cannot  bear  interruption  ;  to  be  broken  in 
upon  is  fatal  to  our  lame  speech,  because  we  are  not  speakers,  we 
are  reciters  or  readers  of  a  lesson,  or  performers  of  a  trick.  If  we 
talked  right  out  of  the  temple  and  sanctuary  of  our  life,  we  could 
bear  •  to  have  our  speech  punctuated  by  divers  kinds  of  interrup- 
tions, and  especially  by  those  interruptions  which  called  us  to  be- 
neficent labour.  "  While  he  yet  spake  these  things  unto  them," 
whilst  there  was  wonder  on  the  face  of  those  who  received  the  an- 
swer, whilst  the  air  was  still  stirring  with  the  vibrations  of  his  sa- 
cred and  revealing  voice,  whilst  the  question  was  yet  under  consid- 


MATTHEW  IX.  14-19.  89 

eration,  "  behold  there  came  a  certain  ruler  and  worshipped  him, 
saying,  My  daughter  is  even  now  dead,  but  come  and  lay  thy 
hand  upon  her  and  she  shall  live. ' '  We  began  with  a  little  ques- 
tion, we  come  into  a  tragic  prayer.  Such,  indeed,  is  the  sharp 
transition  of  life.  Now  the  great  Teacher  has  to  answer  the  tech- 
nical enquiry,  and  now  to  recall  the  dead,  and  now  to  redeem  the 
world. 

The  ruler's  little  child  was  twelve  years  old,  and  she  was  dead, 
yet  he  said,  "  Come  and  lay  thy  hand  upon  her  and  she  shall 
live. "  "  Thy  hand' '  — are  not  all  hands  alike  ?  Is  there  a  science 
of  palmistry — are  there  those  who  read  the  man  in  the  hand — are 
not  all  grips  of  the  same  intensity .?  Why  say,  ''Thy  hand"  — 
could  no  other  hand  be  found  }  We  are  sometimes  shut  up  to 
the  help  of  one  man,  even  in  our  lower  life.  "  O  for  our  own 
doctor  :  his  very  voice  would  do  the  patient  good.  O  for  our 
own  physician  :  he  knows  just  what  to  give  when  the  sufferer  is  in 
this  crisis  of  agony.  O  for  our  old  mother  :  there  was  healing, 
there  was  comfort  in  her  gentle  hand.  O  for  the  old  father — if  he 
had  been  here  he  would  have  found  the  key  to  open  this  gate.  O 
for  the  old  pastor  that  first  showed  us  the  light  and  brought  us  to 
prayer — he  would  know  what  to  say  to  us  just  now."  We  have, 
therefore,  analogy  to  help  us  in  this  matter.  In  the  great  crises  of 
life  there  is  often  only  one  hand  that  can  help  us.  Thy  right 
hand,  O  Lord,  is  become  glorious  in  power.  The  right  hand  of 
the  Lord  doeth  valiantly.      In  thy  hand  is  both  honour  and  might. 

The  good  hand  of  my  God  be  upon  me.  Out  of  whose  hand 
do  you  take  your  daily  food  .?  Thou  openest  thine  hand  and  sat- 
isfieth  the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  Lay  thine  hand  upon  us 
even  when  we  are  dead,  and  we  shall  live  again.  Dear  hand, 
wounded  hand,  mighty  hand,  hand  of  the  Loving  One,  lay  it 
upon  us,  before  us,  behind  us,  round  about  us — keep  us  in  thine 
hand  and  let  our  names  be  written  on  its  palm. 

See  the  life  of  our  Lord — the  bridegroom  making  all  the  chil- 
dren of  the  bride-chamber  happy,  intoxicating  them  with  the  sacred 
wine  of  his  own  joy,  answering  a  little  technical  question  and  has- 
tening to  recall  the  dead  to  life  :  for  we  read,  "  And  Jesus  arose 
and  followed  him,  and  so  did  his  disciples."  When  did  he  ever 
refuse  the  request  of  a  broken  heart  1  When  did  he  ever  say 
' '  No' '  to  the  contrite  spirit .?     When  did  he  ever  pierce  the  up- 


90  COMPANIONSHIP   OF  CHRIST. 

turned  eyes  of  contrition  with  sharp  darts  of  rebuke  ?  He  arose 
and  followed  him — like  a  servant.  He  made  himself  of  no  repu- 
tation, he  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  slave  and  became  obedient, 
obedient  unto  death,  obedient  unto  the  death  of  the  cross.  Not 
obedience  in  any  of  its  reluctant  forms  or  manifestations,  but  the 
utter,  complete  obedience  that  left  nothing  undone. 

What  is  there  in  your  house  to-day — is  death  there  .?  Ask  Jesus 
to  go  home  with  you,  and  you  will  have  light  at  eventide.  Is 
there  a  great  grief  at  home  to-day .?  Take  Jesus  with  you  and  he 
will  sanctify  the  bitter  grief.  Is  the  house  very  empty  to-day,  and 
cold,  and  lonely,  and  are  you  afraid  to  hear  your  own  footfall 
within  the  unsympathetic  walls  1  Take  the  guest  with  you — he 
can  break  the  bread,  and  make  a  feast  of  it  in  the  breaking,  and 
he  will  fill  up  every  vacancy  and  make  you  glad,  if  not  with  im- 
mediate restoration,  with  a  great  hope  that  shall  be  more  precious 
than  any  satisfaction  that  is  possible  within  the  bounds  of  time  and 
space.  With  Christ  in  the  house  we  have  companionship,  suffi- 
ciency, rest,  thankfulness,  hope — and  there  is  nothing  else  in 
heaven. 


XXXVIII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  wonderful  in  healing  :  there  is  none  so 
wounded  that  he  cannot  be  cured  by  thy  touch  or  by  thy  word.  Thou 
canst  even  heal  the  broken  heart,  and  bind  up  with  many  balms  the 
wounded  spirit,  which  no  hand  of  man  can  touch.  Behold  thou  art  very 
kind,  thy  patience  is  more  than  the  long-suffering  of  our  mother,  and  thy 
care  is  beyond  all  the  wisdom  of  our  father's  understanding.  Yet  thou 
hast  given  us  our  father  and  our  mother,  as  helps  to  know  somewhat  of 
thee  :  they  lead  us  up  a  little  way  towards  thine  own  heart  :  like  as  a 
father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him.  If  men 
being  evil  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  their  children,  much  more 
wilt  thou  give  good  gifts  unto  them  that  ask  thee.  A  woman  may  forget 
her  sucking  child,  thai  she  have  no  compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb, 
yet  thou  wilt  not  forget  thy  redeemed  ones,  and  thy  saints  shall  miss 
thee  but  for  a  small  moment. 

Thou  hast  written  our  names  on  the  palms  of  thine  hands,  and  thou 
hast  written  thy  name  upon  our  foreheads.  We  belong  to  one  another, 
we  are  counted  in  the  covenant,  we  are  weighed  in  the  scales  that  weigh 
the  fine  gold,  and  no  speck  of  dust  shall  be  lost.  The  foundation  of  the 
Lord  standeth  sure,  having  this  seal.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
his.  Help  us  all  to  be  thine.  In  our  rough  way  we  are  all  thine,  but  so 
prodigal  and  wanton  and  wild,  so  rebellious  and  destructive  and  self- 
willed,  slain  by  our  obstinacy  and  utterly  lost  by  the  stubbornness  of  our 
unanswering  hearts,  though  thou  didst  appeal  to  them  by  all  the  ministries 
of  earth  and  heaven.  Last  of  all  thou  didst  send  thy  Son,  saying,  "  They 
will  reverence  my  Son,"  and  we  caught  him  and  took  him  and  slew  him  : 
we  nailed  him  to  the  tree  and  pierced  his  side  with  a  spear.  Yet  in  his 
blood  is  salvation,  in  his  death  is  sacrifice,  in  his  offering  is  there  all  the 
power  and  grace  of  an  infinite  atonement,  not  to  be  known  or  set  forth 
in  words  of  man,  but  to  be  felt  by  the  heart  in  its  night  of  woe  and  in  the 
keenness  of  its  mortal  pain.  Bring  us  all  to  the  cross,  may  it  be  our 
home,  our  refuge,  our  rest.     Other  refuge  have  we  none. 

Let  thy  word  be  very  sweet  to  us,  sweeter  than  honey,  yea  sweeter 
than  the  honeycomb — a  new  sweetness  all  its  own,  without  answer  or 
parallel  among  all  the  sweetnesses  of  the  garden.  We  bless  thee  that 
we  have  begun  wisdom  :  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  that  holy  beginning.  We 
have  not  learned  much  :  have  pity  upon  us  and  spare  us  that  we  may  add 
little  to  little  as  the  days  fly  away.     Gold  cannot  buy  it,  it  is  not  in  silver 


92  A  POINT  OF  INTERRUPTION. 


to  compass  the  price  thereof  ;  it  is  the  wonder  of  the  deep,  and  destruc- 
tion and  death  have  only  heard  the  fame  thereof.  All  corals  and  rubles 
are  not  to  be  named  with  it.  Help  us  to  grow  in  wisdom,  may  we  be 
wise  in  intelligence  and  wise  in  love,  may  our  whole  life  be  as  a  flame  of 
wisdom. 

Pity  us  in  our  daily  distresses,  and  help  us  in  our  daily  burdens  : 
speak  comfortably  to  those  who  this  day  feel  the  coldness  and  loneliness 
of  a  great  bereavement.  Bind  up  the  heart  in  which  there  is  no  more 
blood,  speak  to  the  life  in  which  the  hope  has  died,  ancl  in  the  house  that 
is  desolated  with  sevenfold  night  do  thou  set  thine  own  candle. 

The  Lord  keep  us  quiet  and  give  us  the  joy  of  peace,  the  solemnity  of 
the  infinite  assurance  of  our  acceptance  with  the  beloved.  When  we 
come  to  touch  the  holy  bread  and  sacred  wine  that  have  in  them  the 
memory  of  the  great  life  and  death  may  our  lips  be  touched  as  with  a 
live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  that  we  may  receive  the  same  reverently  and 
with  thankfulness  unfeigned.     Amen. 

Matthew  ix.  18-26. 

i8.  While  he  spake  these  things  unto  them,  behold  there  came  a  cer- 
tain ruler  and  worshipped  him,  saying.  My  daughter  is  even  now  dead, 
but  come  and  lay  thy  hand  upon  her  and  she  shall  live. 

19.  And  Jesus  arose  and  followed  him,  and  so  did  his  disciples. 

20.  And,  behold,  a  woman  which  was  diseased  with  an  issue  of  blood 
twelve  years,  came  behind  him,  and  touched  the  hem  of  his  garment  : 

21.  For  she  said  within  herself,  if  I  may  but  touch  his  garment,  I  shall 
be  whole. 

22.  But  Jesus  turned  him  about,  and  when  he  saw  her,  he  said. 
Daughter,  be  of  good  comfort  ;  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole.  And 
the  woman  was  made  whole  from  that  hour. 

23.  And  when  Jesus  came  into  the  ruler's  house  and  saw  the  minstrels 
and  the  people  making  a  noise, 

24.  He  said  unto  them,  Give  place,  for  the  maid  is  not  dead,  but  sleep- 
eth.     And  they  laughed  him  to  scorn. 

25.  But  when  the  people  were  put  forth,  he  went  in  and  took  her  by 
the  hand,  and  the  maid  arose. 

26.  And  the  fame  thereof  went  abroad  into  all  that  land. 

AFFLICTION  IN  THE  HOUSE. 

WHILE  he  spake  these  things."  We  need  not  critically 
inquire  whether  any  interval  separated  between  what  is 
written  in  the  seventeenth  verse  and  in  the  eighteenth.  No  doubt 
such  an  interval  did  occur,  yet  it  would  have  been  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  the  habit  of  the  great  Teacher  and  Sufferer  if  he  had  in- 


MATTHEW  IX.    18-26.  93 


terrupted  any  speech  in  order  to  do  good  to  a  broken  heart.  It 
did  not  shock  the  writer  when  he  wrote,  "  While  he  spake  these 
things  unto  them."  It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  was  indicat- 
ing a  point  of  interruption,  nor  did  it  occur  to  him  that  he  was 
violating  any  probability  of  the  case.  Christ  himself  was  the  one 
improbability,  the  one  impossibility  of  human  history,  and  there- 
fore we  must  not  bring  little  rules  and  standards  by  which  to 
measure  anything  that  he  did  or  said. 

He  was  answering  a  question  put  to  him  by  the  disciples  of  John 
about  fasting,  and  Matthew  writes,  ' '  While  he  spake  these  things 
unto  them, ' '  ere  yet  the  answer  was  fully  given,  or  whilst  the  last 
word  was  being  uttered,  or  whilst  he  was  in  the  act  of  pausing  for 
some  rejoinder  either  by  way  of  comment  or  inquiry — just  then  a 
great,  solemn,  heart-laden  prayer  burst  upon  his  startled  ear. 
' '  My  daughter  is  now  dead,  but  come  and  lay  thy  hand  upon  her 
and  she  shall  live."  Elijah  taught  us  that  other  gods  might  be  so 
busy  that  they  could  not  hear  the  cry  of  their  devotees  ;  Elijah 
spoke  so  in  irony  and  mockery,  bitter  and  severe,  telling  us  to  cry 
louder,  that  our  God  was  talking  or  pursuing  ;  he  told  us  that  we 
got  no  answer  because  our  voice  was  too  low,  that  the  god  was  on 
a  journey  or  sleeping — nobody  knew  what  he  was  doing  :  he  must 
be  called  for  by  a  louder  and  shriller  cry.  Jesus  Christ  was  never 
so  busy  that  he  could  not  answer  any  question  put  to  him,  and  in 
proportion  as  that  question  was  acute,  arising  from  the  heart's  sore 
distress  and  burning  agony,  would  he  interrupt  even  a  miracle  of  a 
minor  kind,  to  accomplish  a  miracle  of  a  superior  kind.  These 
are  the  things  that  prove  his  quality,  these  are  the  elements  which 
being  brought  together  into  one  complete  mass,  establish  his  claim 
to  be  something  more  than  I  am.  I  go  with  him  so  far,  and  in  a 
moment  he  shoots  beyond  me  and  stands  alone  on  the  solemn  ele- 
vation. Up  to  a  given  line  he  is  a  good  man  simply,  extremely 
kind  and  sensitive,  answering  every  emotion  of  the  life  that  is 
around  him  steadily  and  truly ;  then  in  a  moment  he  leaves 
all  examples  and  precedents  and  parallels  behind,  and  stands  be- 
fore us  as  God,  so  much  like  God  that  were  a  man  to  say  to  him, 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God,"  not  a  heart  in  all  the  listening  assem- 
bly would  feel  the  shock  of  an  irreligious  or  painful  surprise.  The 
cry  would  accord  wath  the  circumstances,  and  would  establish  a 
sweet  though  pensive  rhythm.     The  two  words,  the  word  of  Christ 


94  NO    TROUBLE— NO   CHRIST. 

and  the  acknowledging  word  of  man,  would  form  a  balance  to 
one  another,  and  establish  between  them  a  consistency  that  would 
grow  into  an  argument. 

Yet  he  appears  to  be  Servant  as  well  as  Master,  for  we  read, 
"  And  Jesus  arose  and  followed  him,"  as  if  he  had  no  alternative. 
.  He  never  has  an  alternative  when  the  heart  really  wants  him.  It 
is  the  heart  that  shuts  him  up  to  one  reply.  He  can  tell  your  in- 
telligence to  wait,  he  can  rebuke  your  eager  ingenuity  or  your  im- 
petuous fancy  ;  but  when  the  broken  heart  needs  him,  if  he  were 
to  delay,  then  it  would  be  but  to  come  with  some  richer  blessing 
on  the  third  day.  Sometimes  he  does  put  off  until  the  third  day  ; 
it  is  his  favourite  day,  he  typified  it  by  instances  in  his  life,  he 
crowned  it  by  his  resurrectional  return.  "  Come,  let  us  return 
unto  the  Lord  :  he  hath  bruised  us,  and  he  will  bind  us  up  again  : 
he  hath  torn  us,  and  on  the  third  day  he  will  revive  us."  But  he 
always  answers  the  cry  of  the  burdened  and  broken  heart.  He 
arises  like  a  servant,  and  clothed  with  humility  as  with  a  garment, 
he  walks  after  the  man  that  wants  him  as  a  slave  might  go. 

Yet  you  say  you  have  never  seen  him  and  never  known  him.  I 
can  tell  you  why.  You  have  had  no  trouble  in  your  life.  You 
have  always  sought  him  by  the  lamp  of  your  intelligence  ;  you 
have  always  invited  him  into  the  cunningly  arranged  chambers  of 
your  fancy  and  imagination  ;  you  have  always  endeavoured  to 
tempt  him  by  your  intellectual  curiosity.  To  all  these  Herods  and 
Pilates  he  answers  nothing.  To  this  man  will  I  look,  the  man 
whose  eyes  are  upon  the  dust,  whose  accusing  hand  is  upon  his 
heart,  and  who  sobs  rather  than  says  his  eager  prayer.  You  will 
send  for  him  some  day,  and  he  will  come. 

This  is  an  instance  of  a  man  praying  for  another  and  yet  praying 
for  himself  2X  the  same  time.  "  My  daughter  is  even  now  dead." 
That  is  all  we  hear,  but  there  was  an  unspoken  prayer,  for  there 
was  a  subtle  undertone,  there  was  an  aside  in  the  action  that 
touched  the  heart  of  Christ.  If  the  child  is  dead,  why  call  her 
back  .?  Who  would  call  back  a  friend  from  summer  to  winter, 
from  the  land  where  the  moon  is  as  the  sun,  and  the  sun  is  bright 
seven  times  beyond  himself,  to  the  land  of  night  and  coldness  and 
ice  and  bitter  desolation  ?  He  could  have  said,  "  Jairus,  I  con- 
gratulate thee  :  is  she  gone,  is  she  at  home,  have  the  angels  taken 
her? 


MATTHEW  IX.    18-26.  95 

'  Let  the  angels  take  her 
In  God's  acre 

Dust  to  dust 
Must  thou  thus  forsake  her  ? 

Ay,  thou  must, 
Will  the  stronger  wrong  her  ?  ' 

I  bless  thee  :  thy  twelve-year-old  child  is  an  angel  now. ' ' 

But  there  was  another  prayer  :  not  only  was  the  little  girl  dead, 
but  the  living  man  was  dead  too.  He  answered  the  prayer  not  for 
the  child's  sake,  but  for  the  man  s  sake.  The  house  was  no  longer 
worth  going  into,  the  house  had  become  a  ghastly  tomb,  the  house 
had  shaped  itself  into  its  ghost's  faces,  and  miserable  spectacles — 
Jesus  went  for  the  living  man' s  sake.  ' '  When  such  friends  part, 
'tis  the  survivor  dies  ;"  so  wondrous  is  the  way  of  mercy,  so  subtle 
and  incalculable  are  the  methods  and  issues  of  divine  providence, 
that  sometimes  they  who  are  in  heaven  have  to  be  called  back 
again  in  order  to  make  up  our  life,  or  we  shall  fall  right  down  in 
the  pit  of  despair,  and  our  lamp  shall  go  out  in  total  and  perpetual 
darkness.  Selfish  man — still  not  wholly  selfish.  If  a  man  has 
lost  one  of  his  wings  and  cannot  fly,  he  may  surely  ask  to  have  it 
returned  to  him.  If  the  lame  man  has  lost  his  one  crutch,  surely 
God  will  not  account  it  inexcusably  selfish  if  he  should  ask  to  have 
it  given  back  to  him. 

My  daughter — in  another  place,  my  little  daughter,  my  only 
daughter — is  dead.  Does  death  go  into  great  houses  }  This  man 
was  governor,  a  ruler,  a  man  of  station  and  social  influence.  Does 
death  go  into  the  house  of  the  ruler,  into  the  dwelling  of  the  mag- 
istrate, into  the  habitation  of  the  judge,  into  the  palace  of  the 
monarch  1  Is  he  not  affrighted  by  the  great  gates  gilded  at  their 
tops  like  pinnacles .?  He  makes  others  fear,  he  knows  no  fear  him- 
self. Let  us  proceed  with  the  narrative,  for  it  is  full  of  action. 
There  is  no  rest  in  the  outward  life  of  this  Christ :  He  has  to  cut 
out  days  and  nights  in  which  to  rest,  for  the  world's  necessity 
would  never  allow  him  even  to  sleep.  He  had  to  create  a  Sabbath 
sometimes  in  the  night  that  he  might  go  to  church  and  sing  and 
pray.  This  portion  of  the  chapter  is  full  of  action,  it  moves,  it 
trembles  with  a  strange  energy,  divine  and  human. 

"  And  behold,  a  woman "     Yes,  I  will,  and  I  know  she 

will  develop  something  in  Christ  that  no  man  could  ever  touch.    I 


96  AND  BEHOLD  A    WOMAN. 

will  behold  this  woman  ;  I  have  known  Christ  worsted  by  a 
woman  ;  I  have  never  known  him  beaten  really  in  his  own  field  but 
by  a  woman.  He  once  told  a  woman  that  the  meat  was  not  for  the 
dogs,  and  she  said,  "  Truth,  Lord,  but  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  the  master's  table."  And  he  could  not  stir  one 
step  from  that  spot  till  he  had  given  a  great  "  Yes"  to  her  great 
prayer.  Let  us  then  in  very  deed  behold  this  woman.  She  has 
been  diseased  twelve  years,  which  was  exactly  the  age  of  the  little 
girl  that  was  dead.  The  little  child  had  twelve  years,  let  us  hope, 
of  joyous  life  and  daily  dreaming,  much  laughter,  high  glee  ;  and 
this  poor  woman,  all  the  time,  year  by  year  through  every  one  of 
the  twelve,  had  been  suffering  much.  No  physician  could  treat 
her  case  successfully  ;  she  had  nothing  bettered,  but  rather  grew 
worse.  She  came  behind  him.  There  is  a  touch  of  modesty  and 
a  touch  of  something  more  than  modesty  and  nearer  divinity  still — 
if  there  be  aught  nearer  divinity  than  downright,  healthy,  real 
humbleness.  She  was  going  to  entrap  him,  she  was  going  to  per- 
petrate what  centuries  afterwards  was  known  as  a  pious  fraud,  she 
would  steal  a  blessing.  She  had  a  speech  in  her  heart — who  has 
not .?  You  are  going  to  face  some  difficulty  to-morrow,  and  you 
have  told  your  nearest  friend  what  you  will  say,  or  you  have  kept 
it  altogether  in  your  heart,  and  turned  it  over  and  over  with  many 
an  amendment.  You  will  begin  so,  and  continue  thus,  and  then 
you  will  wait.  Wnat  secret  preparations  we  have,  what  speeches 
gotten  by  heart,  what  prayers  stored  up  in  the  silent  chambers,  to 
come  out  some  day  and  surprise  heaven  ! 

What  would  this  good  old  mother  say  .?  She  said  within  her- 
self, "  If  I  may  but  touch  his  garment  I  shall  be  whole.  I  need 
not  trouble  him  with  any  speech  or  with  any  form  or  ceremony  of 
restoration,  I  am  one  that  need  not  go  to  him  in  trouble — if  I 
may  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  the  dusty  hem,  the  hem 
that  is  trailing  on  the  ground.  I  need  not  ask  to  touch  his  dear 
hand,  nor  need  I  pray  for  that  dear  hand  to  be  laid  upon  me.  I 
will  go  behind  him  and  watch  the  train  of  his  dress  as  it  goes 
along  the  ground,  and  if  I  can  but  touch  it  for  a  moment,  I  shall 
be  whole."  That  was  faith,  that  was  religion  !  A  soul  that 
could  burn  with  such  spirituality  must  cure  any  body  which  it 
tenanted  for  a  few  frail  years.  Your  bodies  would  be  better  if 
your  souls  were  stronger. 


MATTHEW  IX.   18-26.  97 

Does  Jesus  Christ  permit  any  theft  ?  Jesus  turned  him  about, 
and  when  he  saw  her,  as  no  other  eyes  had  ever  looked  upon  her, 
he  said,  "  Daughter."  We  are  all  his  daughters,  we  are  all  his 
sons,  he  is  our  Father  and  our  Brother  ;  all  relations  in  marvel- 
lous contradiction  represent  themselves  in  him,  just  as  we  put 
ourselves  in  relation  to  him.  "  Daughter,  take  heart  again,  be 
happy  :  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole. ' '  He  asks  no  questions 
regarding  her  disease,  or  the  time  of  its  continuance,  or  the  pecu- 
liarity of  its  symptoms,  or  the  keenness  of  its  pain.  He  knows  us 
altogether. 

"  He  knows  what  sore  temptations  mean. 
For  he  has  felt  the  same." 

We  have  not  a  High  Priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with  a  feeling 
of  our  infirmities,  for  in  all  points  he  was  tempted,  tried,  searched, 
as  we  are,  yet  he  kept  sin  at  bay,  and  was  conqueror  always. 

But  how  kind  to  make  this  little  speech  as  well  as  to  give  the 
healing.  A  flower  is  all  the  better  for  having  fragrance  as  well  as 
beauty.  How  sweet  to  say  something  to  her,  to  make  a  whole 
little  speech  to  the  woman  herself !  Sometimes  he  made  the 
speech  to  the  multitude  :  he  said,  ' '  I  say  unto  you  I  have  not 
found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel."  He  took,  so  to  speak, 
her  little  birthday  book,  which  we  give  to  our  friends  to  write  their 
names  in,  and  he  writes  a  little  speech  with  his  own  dear  hand, 
and  it  is  all  the  woman's  own.  "  Daughter,  be  of  good  comfort, 
thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole. ' '  He  almost  made  the  woman 
feel  she  had  cured  herself.  He  takes  no  glory — he  needs  none. 
He  does  not  say,  ' '  Behold  the  virtue  of  my  clothes,  see  what  can 
be  done  by  this  oversoul  that  flows  into  the  hem  of  my  garment." 
He  tells  the  poor  woman  that  she  healed  herself.  He  loadeth  us 
with  benefits  ! 

And  then  these  people  came  to  Jesus,  not  because  of  their  rich- 
ness and  health  and  strength,  but  because  they  wanted  something 
of  him,  because  of  their  helplessness  and  pain,  or  poverty  of  some 
kind.  That  is  just  what  we  do  if  we  come  to  him  in  the  right 
way.  Sometimes  you  mock  us,  and  when  you  see  us  going  to 
church  you  say,  "  There  go  the  good  ones,  there  go  the  patterns 
of  society,  there  go  your  pious  ones.  We  poor  creatures  do  not 
go  to  church  or  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper — we  leave 
that  for  you  patterns  of  high  virtue  and  noble  piety. ' '     There  is 


98  THE  STORY  RESUMED. 

no  sense  in  your  mockery,  you  are  altogether  wrong  in  your  con- 
ception, and  therefore  wholly  unjust  in  your  criticism.  We 
come  to  Christ  because  we  are  bad.  If  you  could  say  to  us,  ' '  There 
go  the  bad  ones, ' '  you  would  speak  with  some  justness.  ' '  There 
go  the  cripples,  there  go  the  helpless  ones,  there  go  those  that  can- 
not make  up  their  own  life  and  redeem  their  own  soul,  there  go 
the  paupers,  the  dependents,  the  helpless  ones. ' '  Say  so  and  you 
touch  the  reality  of  the  case,  I  do  not  remain  to  partake  of  the 
sacred  bread  and  wine  because  I  am  good,  but  because  I  am  the 
chief  of  sinners.  I  never  knew  any  man  come  really  and  truly  to 
Christ  who  did  not  come  because  he  was  helpless,  because  he  was 
suffering  from  mortal  distress,  because  he  was  conscious  of  an 
emptiness  and  impotence  of  soul  which  nothing  can  touch  but  the 
divine  hand  of  Christ. 

Think  of  us,  therefore,  as  worse  than  you.  You  can  do  with- 
out him,  we  cannot.  You  want  to  wait  till  you  have  washed  your- 
selves and  apparelled  yourselves  and  made  yourselves  fit  for  his 
presence. 

"  All  the  fitness  he  requires 
Is  to  feel  your  need  of  him," 

Think  of  us  as  the  worst  men  in  society,  the  vilest,  the  meanest 
men,  those  who  are  utterly  conscious  of  being  self-helpless,  and 
who  want  some  one  to  rest  on,  and  spare  your  bitter  taunt  and 
heartless  mockery. 

Now  we  resume  the  story  that  was  interrupted  by  this  woman, 
and  beautifully  interrupted.  Such  parentheses  are  the  very  glory 
and  blossom  of  the  history.  It  would  be  poorer  history  but  for 
these  interruptions.  Jesus  Christ  does  a  great  deal  of  good  on  the 
way  towards  doing  some  other  good.  He  preaches  as  he  is  walk- 
ing down  to  the  church.  His  very  passing  by  the  house  of  the 
people  leaves  a  blessing  behind  it.  He  is  as  a  flower  carried 
through  the  quiet  air  that  breathes  its  fragrant  blessing,  that  all  may 
receive  it  and  be  made  glad.  This  is  an  aside  in  his  ministry 
which  does  not  lie  on  the  direct  line  as  part  of  one  continual  pur- 
pose :  it  is  something  that  happened  intermediately. 

Now  he  comes  to  the  ruler's  house.  "  When  he  saw  the  min- 
strels"— for  heathenism  had  made  some  incursion  even  into  Jew- 
ish habits — "when  he  saw  the  minstrels  and  the  people  making  a 
noise  (an  artificial  noise;  hired  mourners  made  to  create  a  sensa- 


MATTHEW  IX.  18-26.  99 

tion),  he  said  unto  them,  Give  place,  for  the  maid  is  not  dead, 
but  sleepeth. ' '  Thus  he  would  always  reduce  his  own  miracles. 
He  did  not  say,  "  She  is  sevenfold  dead  ;"  he  always  made  light 
of  his  miracles  ;  he  said,  "It  is  only  the  death  swoon,  she  is 
asleep  ;"  and  they  laughed  him  to  scorn.  They  knew  better — so 
did  he,  if  it  came  to  a  merely  literal  interpretation  ;  but  he  in- 
cludes death  itself  in  sleep.  So  he  will  strip  death  itself  of  all  its 
terrors  and  stings,  and  make  it  at  last  into  a  child's  slumber. 
They  laughed  him  to  scorn — they  had  seen  a  thousand  children 
dead,  and  they  knew  that  this  child  was  as  dead  as  any  child  that 
had  ever  been  buried  in  rock  or  in  pit. 

' '  And  when  the  people  were  put  forth,  he  went  in. "  I  see 
his  stoop  as  he  passes  under  the  door  and  takes  her  by  the  hand. 
She  could  not  touch  him,  and  therefore  he  touched  her.  He  will 
have  it  either  way,  only  the  touch  must  take  place.  He  does  not 
care  whether  it  be  your  touch  or  his  touch,  but  the  hands  must 
meet,  the  lives  must  impinge,  there  must  be  a  beneficent  collision. 
The  woman  had  strength  enough  to  touch  on  the  ground,  as  it 
trailed  along,  the  hem  of  the  mean  garment ;  the  little  girl  lay  there 
stiff  and  cold,  and  motionless,  she  could  do  nothing  ;  he  there- 
fore did  it  all.     "  He  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  the  maid  arose." 

These  miracles  must  not  be  blotted  out  of  human  history. 
They  set  mind  in  its  right  place  ;  they  set  the  moral  forces  of  crea- 
tion in  their  true  position  ;  they  will  not  let  death  have  all  its  own 
rude,  violent  way  in  the  world  ;  they  put  life  on  the  throne  ;  they 
elevate  soul  above  body,  spirit  above  matter.  That  is  the  grand 
interpretation  of  the  miracles,  that  mind  is  regal  and  matter  slavish, 
servile,  and  wholly  helpless  under  the  dominion  and  beneficent 
regnancy  of  the  soul.  If  you  have  been  trying  to  reconcile  the 
miracles  with  your  little  laws  of  nature  and  partial  conceptions  of 
the  universe,  no  wonder  that  your  heads  are  dizzy  and  in  the  whirl 
of  scepticism  ;  but  if  you  see  in  these  miracles  types  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  mind,  the  royalty  and  divinity  of  spirit,  the  right  relation 
of  the  universe  to  the  King  and  Creator,  then  these  difficulties  be- 
come as  the  small  dust  in  the  balance,  as  a  drop  in  the  bucket. 
They  are  not  to  be  accounted  of.  When  you  come  into  this  spirit 
pf  high,  loving,  pure,  sublime,  and  noble  criticism,  then  all  these 
miracles  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ  will  no  longer  be  the  surprises  of 
such  a  history  but  the  commonplaces  of  a  life  so  divine. 


XXXIX. 

PRAY  ER. 

Almighty  God,  our  words  are  too  poor  for  thy  praise  :  thou  knowest 
what  oar  hearts  would  give  if  they  could,  thou  dost  accept  the  purpose  as 
a  temple  and  the  intention  as  a  great  reality.  Thou  dost  turn  our  water 
into  wine,  and  our  two  mites  of  poverty  thou  dost  account  more  than  the 
gold  of  the  rich.  Thou  shalt  calculate  for  us,  we  will  no  longer  reckon 
for  ourselves.  Do  thou  fill  our  hearts  v/ith  a  desire  to  praise  thee,  and 
turn  our  whole  life  into  a  glad  and  industrious  service,  so  that  whilst  the 
days  linger,  we  may  be  found  doing  thy  will  upon  earth,  with  all  the  pur- 
pose with  which  thou  dost  inspire  our  heart.  Now  and  again  we  are 
lifted  above  the  dust  and  cloud,  up  where  no  earth-wind  blows,  even  to 
heaven's  gate — there  we  see  somewhat  of  the  other  light,  compared 
with  which  the  light  of  our  sun  is  but  a  dim  flame.  Keep  us  there  in  all 
elevation  of  feeling  and  sacredness  of  desire  appropriate  to  such  nearness 
to  thyself,  and  then  as  to  our  daily  activity  and  service,  help  us  to  toil 
amongst  men  with  Christ's  own  devotion,  piteousness,  and  infinite  chari- 
tableness of  heart  :  may  the  morning  find  us  busy,  may  the  eventide  find 
us  seeking  only  honourable  rest,  may  we  be  numbered  amongst  those  ser- 
vants who  have  the  blessedness  of  being  found  waiting  or  working  when 
their  Lord  comes  ! 

We  have  brought  our  weekly  hymn  to  thy  house,  loud  and  sweet, 
cheerful  with  a  great  gladness,  bright  with  a  heavenly  hope.  Thou  hast 
done  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are  glad  :  every  night  thou  hast  blessed 
us  with  the  benediction  of  sleep,  every  morning  thou  hast  sent  the  sun- 
beam to  awaken  us  again  to  a  sense  of  responsibility  and  to  the  engage- 
ment of  service.  All  the  week  long  thou  hast  beset  us  behind  and  before 
and  laid  thine  hand  upon  us,  thou  hast  sustained  our  hearts  by  the  in- 
finite comfortableness  of  thy  grace  ;  we  are  here  to-day  a  band  of  men 
whose  hearts  God  has  touched — our  life  would  rise  to  thee  like  a  flame 
seeking  the  skies,  our  whole  purpose  would  be  undivided  in  intensity  and 
in  love,  and  all  the  while  we  would  be  seeking  to  renew  our  strength  by 
no  trick  or  cunning  of  our  own,  but  by  diligently  waiting  for  the  Lord 
until  it  doth  please  him  to  appear. 

Thou  hast  given  us  glad  promises,  thou  hast  sounded  a  trumpet  amongst 
us  ;  yea,  a  silver  trumpet,  and  every  note  of  it  is  a  note  of  hopefulness. 
Thou  hast  promised  that  the  earth  shall  be  better  lighted,  that  the  heavens 
shall  be  filled  with  a  greater  glory,  that  all  human  hearts  shall  unite  in 


MATTHEW  IX.  27-^,1. 


offering  praise  unto  the  living  one,  and  that  the  Cross  of  Christ,  bare, 
bleak  tree,  blighted  by  all  the  cold  and  bitterness  of  winter,  shall  bloom 
into  a  tree,  the  leaves  of  which  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations, 
and  all  nations  shall  gather  themselves  under  its  grateful  shade.  Pluck 
thou  the  prey  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy,  reclaim  the  heritage  of  the 
heathen  and  make  it  as  the  garden  of  heaven.  Clothe  thy  ministers  with 
power,  touch  their  tongues  anew  with  tuneful  eloquence  and  make  their 
hearts  burn  with  all  the  love  of  Christ. 

We  come  to  thee  through  the  dear  Cross  of  one  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Son 
of  Mary,  Son  of  Man,  Son  of  God,  the  Man  with  the  great  heart,  the 
Christ  of  Heaven,  the  Anointed  of  Eternity,  the  Lamb  that  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world.  O,  take  it  away  soon,  take  it  away  altogether,  shut 
it  up  in  its  appropriate  hell,  and  burn  it  with  unquenchable  fire.  Reign 
in  us,  thou  Holy  Spirit,  rule  us  continually,  give  us  new  thoughts,  new 
emotions,  clothe  our  will  as  with  the  garment  of  obedience,  bring  us 
evermore  into  the  attitude  of  worship  and  homage  before  the  throne  of 
light. 

Comfort  those  who  are  bowed  down,  with  the  solaces  of  heaven. 
Touch  the  heart  that  is  wounded  and  give  a  portion  of  sweetness  to  the 
life  that  has  long  been  accustomed  to  the  bitter  cup.  Lighten  the  burden 
of  the  heavy-laden,  re-light  the  lamp  of  those  whose  hope  is  dying. 
Bless  our  friends  who  are  in  the  sick-chamber,  waiting  for  health,  or 
tarrying  till  their  immortality  in  heaven  begins.  Behold  our  loved  ones 
on  the  sea,  and  give  them  safe  out-going  or  in-coming.  Remember  all 
those  whom  we  love — on  foreign  shores,  in  colonial  lands,  and  in  distant 
countries — unite  us  all  by  the  subtle  and  inviolable  fellowship  of  Chris- 
tian love,  and  may  we,  when  all  earthly  separations  are  closed  for  ever, 
meet  in  the  brotherhood  of  heaven  !     Amen. 

Matthew  ix.  27-31. 

27.  And  when  Jesus  departed  thence,  two  blind  men  followed  him, 
crying,  and  saying.  Thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  us. 

28.  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  house,  the  blind  men  came  to  him 
and  Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Believe  ye  that  I  am  able  to  do  this  ?  They 
said  unto  him.  Yea,  Lord. 

29.  Then  touched  he  their  eyes,  saying.  According  to  your  faith  be  it 
unto  you. 

30.  And  their  eyes  were  opened  ;  and  Jesus  straitly  charged  them,  say- 
ing. See  that  no  man  know  it. 

31.  But  they,  when  they  were  departed,  spread  abroad  his  fame  in  all 
that  country. 


I02  CHRIST  DEVELOPS  A   NEW  WORLD. 


THE  WORLD  THROUGH  WHICH  CHRIST 
PASSED. 

WHAT  a  world  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  passed  through  !  He 
was  always  surrounded  by  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  blind, 
the  poor,  the  broken-hearted,  the  weary,  the  hungry,  and  those 
that  had  no  helper.  Herein  was  the  realization,  and  most  vivid 
and  happy  fulfilment  of  prophecy  :  it  was  foretold  of  him  that  he 
was  to  be  the  Apostle  to  the  meek,  the  captive,  the  broken-hearted, 
and  the  mourning.  Every  man  creates  his  own  world.  You  can 
find  a  tolerably  comfortable  world  if  you  please.  Shut  yourself 
up  in  your  own  parlour,  enjoy  your  own  honey,  warm  yourself  by 
your  own  fire,  shut  out  safely  all  the  cries  of  distress  that  are  ring- 
ing in  the  world,  and  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  life 
after  all  is  tolerably  happy  and  comfortable.  There  are  men  who 
do  this.  When  they  hear  complaints,  they  say  they  are  exagger- 
ated ;  when  their  eye  reluctantly  alights  upon  the  newspapers  con- 
taining reports  of  human  distress  and  poverty,  they  call  such  re- 
ports romances,  or  they  blame  the  poor  for  their  poverty,  the  sor- 
rowing for  their  distress,  and  the  lonely  for  their  helplessness. 
Every  man,  let  me  repeat,  creates  the  world  through  which  he 
passes.  There  are  some  of  us  near  whom  no  poor  man  would 
ever  come,  if  he  could  help  it  ;  he  would  give  us  room  enough 
on  the  broad  highway.  There  are  others  who  are  always  sur- 
rounded by  crying,  distressful,  sad-hearted,  grief-stricken  folks,  so 
that  life  is  spent  in  a  kind  of  multitudinous  hospital.  You  can 
go  through  life  comfortably  if  you  like,  or  you  can  acquaint  your- 
self with  the  world's  woe  and  the  world's  bitter  grief. 

What  a  wonderful  world  Jesus  Christ  developed  !  You  would 
not  have  known  that  there  were  so  many  sick  folks  in  the  town  if 
he  had  not  come.  The  oldest  inhabitant  was  surprised  by  the  dis- 
tress, helplessness,  and  sadness  of  life  hidden  in  the  town  in  which 
he  had  lived  full  seventy  }'ears  and  more.  When  Jesus  Christ  en- 
tered into  the  town,  all  its  distress  was  in  a  flutter  of  expectancy. 
When  the  Saviour  came  mto  any  city,  the  blind  heard  his  footfall, 
the  deaf  saw  signs  in  the  air  that  indicated  the  presence  of  the 
Beneficent  One— all  the  sadness  of  the  town  moved  itself  in  a  new 


MATTHEW  IX.  27-31.  103 

prayer,  and  tried  with  feeble  trembling  hand  to  relight  its  little 
lamp  of  hope. 

How  is  it  when  you  go  into  any  circle,  neighbourhood,  or 
town  .''  All  its  fashion  dresses  itself,  every  looking-glass  in  the 
neighbourhood  is  made  to  do  hard  duty  ;  or  all  the  letters  or  all 
the  music  of  the  town  may  be  moved  to  expectation — but  no  crip- 
ple cares  for  your  coming,  no  deaf  man  says,  "  To-day  I  shall 
hear,"  no  blind  man  gets  his  sight  through  your  coming.  We 
create,  I  would  say  again  and  again,  our  own  society.  The  priest 
goes  to  the  other  side  when  he  sees  the  half-murdered  man,  the 
Levite  follows  his  chief ;  the  Samaritan  lingers  in  that  unroofed 
church  that  he  may  redeem  a  life  from  destruction,  and  in  this  way 
sing  his  morning  psalm  and  breathe  his  daily  prayer. 

You  think  the  world  is  not  a  bad  place  to  live  in,  after  all.  You 
say  you  have  found  life  tolerably  comfortable  ;  you  think  that  a 
great  deal  too  much  is  made  of  the  shady  side  of  life.  Who  are 
you — what  right  have  you  to  speak  upon  this  subject.?  I  could  put 
my  fingers  in  my  ears  and  run  through  a  crowd  of  people  crying 
with  pain,  and  say  at  the  end  of  my  running,  "  I  heard  nothing 
of  it;  everything  was  quiet  when  I  passed  through."  We  do 
not  diminish  the  world's  distress  by  shutting  our  window,  bright- 
ening our  fire,  and  drawing  around  us  all  the  comforts  of  our  own 
luxurious  abode.  The  distress  is  still  there,  it  is  crying  in  the 
night  wind,  shuddering  in  the  snow,  praying  to  the  black  night. 

Every  preacher  creates  his  own  congregation.  "  Like  priest, 
like  people, "  is  a  proverb  not  without  its  application  even  in  this 
sense.  The  congregation  and  the  minister  are  one — in  height,  in 
the  very  shape  of  their  head,  in  the  breadth  of  their  shoulders,  in 
the  tone  of  their  mind,  in  their  look,  in  their  fire — they  are  one. 
There  are  men  we  could  not  hear  ;  they  are  not  our  shepherds. 
There  are  other  men  whom  we  could  hear  always,  because  they 
are  our  kith  and  kin  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  As 
truly  as  a  man  calls  around  him  his  own  companions,  acquaintance 
and  friends,  as  truly  as  a  minister  makes  his  own  congregation  in 
due  time,  so  true  is  it  in  the  deeper  and  more  tragical  sense  that 
every  heart  makes  the  world  in  which  it  lives.  If  we  were  more 
sympathetic,  our  doorstep  would  be  crowded  with  those  who  need 
sympathy,  but  in  proportion  as  we  are  severe,  misanthropic,  un- 
sympathetic, unrighteous  in  judgment,  shall  we  drive  away  the 


I04  THE  BLIND  MEN'S  PRAYER. 

world's  distress  from  our  neighbourhood  and  sight,  and  shall 
come  to  believe  in  the  long  run  that  the  distress  we  do  not  see 
therefore  does  not  exist. 

We  sicken  at  the  sight  of  all  this  sorrow  which  is  narrated  in  the 
holy  gospels.  Nearly  every  verse  has  in  it  something  about  the 
dumb  possessed  with  devils,  a  man  sick  of  the  palsy,  a  little  child 
dead,  a  poor  woman  stealing  a  blessing  from  the  Physician  as  he 
goes  down  to  raise  the  little  one  from  her  fatal  slumber,  a  blind 
man  crying  and  saying-,  ' '  Thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
me  !"  a  leper  with  his  hand  upon  his  lip,  saying,  "  Lord,  if  thou 
wilt  thou  canst  make  me  clean. "  O,  it  is  heart-rending  !  Who 
would  not  rather  read  a  stirring  novel  about  something  that  never 
did  occur.?  When  the  multitude  became  hungry,  the  disciples 
said,  ' '  Send  them  away. ' '  That  is  our  short  and  easy  cure  for 
human  malady — send  it  away.  Jesus  said,  "  No,  never  send  any- 
body away  that  really  needs  your  help. ' '  Instead  of  sending  them 
away,  Jesus  said,  ' '  Cause  them  to  sit  down  on  the  green  grass, 
and  bring  out  of  your  little  store  all  that  you  have,  and  do  not  lei 
a  single  person  go  away  until  the  last  crumb  is  eaten,"  and  the  last 
crumb  is  never  eaten  in  the  house  of  Christ  ;  so  long  as  he  is  at 
the  table  there  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare  ;  so  long  as  he  spends 
your  pound  a  week,  working  man,  you  will  find  in  it  no  end  ol 
shillings  ;  so  long  as  he  keeps  your  house,  poor  widow  woman, 
there  will  be  coal  in  the  grate,  there  will  be  bread  in  the  cupboard, 
and  there  will  be  oil  in  the  cruse.  "  I  have  been  young,"  said 
the  Psalmist,  "  and  now  am  old,  yet  have  I  never  seen  the  right- 
eous forsaken,  nor  his  seed  begging  bread. ' '  We  want  a  change, 
we  are  tired  of  seeing  sad  and  tragical  sights.  I,  for  one,  am 
often  tired  of  the  vision  ;  I  am  weary,  I  long  to  plunge  my  eyes 
into  the  snows  of  the  Alps,  or  into  the  deep  greens  of  the  rich  val- 
ley pastures.  It  would  do  the  eyes  good.  Jesus  Christ  never  tired  ; 
he  went  about  doing  good.  He  tired  every  helper  ;  He  never  ex- 
hausted his  own  sympathy. 

Let  us  now  hear  the  blind  men.  We  have  considered  the 
leper's  brief  prayer,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt  thou  canst  make  me 
clean."  The  blind  men  are  quite  as  terse  and  as  direct  in  their 
supplications.  They  cried  and  said,  "  Thou  Son  of  David,  have 
mercy  on  us  !  "  How  the  right  prayer  rises  from  the  heart  when 
Jt  is  in  its  own  proper  mood.     Let  the  heart  grapple  with  the 


MATTHEW  IX.  27-31.  105 

great  problems  of  life  and  destiny.  Snub  your  impertinent  intel- 
lect when  it  undertakes  to  deal  with  the  universe  ;  let  the  heart 
have  full  swing.  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness. ' '  With  the  intellect  he  may  believe  unto  temporary  convic- 
tion ;  but  with  the  heart  he  believes  unto  righteousness,  complete- 
ness of  sympathy,  and  reality  and  joyousness  of  religious  obedi- 
ence. 

Wonderful  is  this  way  of  putting  the  case  on  the  part  of  the 
blind  men.  They  said,  "  Have  mercy  on  us  !"  The  heart  never 
said,  "  ^Qj'ust  to  us  ;"  the  heart  has  no  weights,  and  scales,  and 
standards,  and  tapes  of  measurement.  No  broken-hearted  sufferer 
ever  came  to  Christ  and  said,  "  Be  jus/  to  me."  That  is  a  most 
remarkable  circumstance  in  the  development  of  human  necessity 
and  in  the  utterance  of  human  want.  The  blind  men  might  have 
said,  "  We  have  heard  that  you  have  cured  a  leper ;  now  be  im- 
partial in  your  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  universe  ;  deal 
with  an  equal  hand  ;  if  you  have  cured  one  man,  you  ought  to 
cure  another  :  we  will  charge  you  with  partiality  if  you  do  not  cure 
us  as  you  have  cured  the  leper,  and  raised  the  ruler's  dead  child, 
and  healed  the  woman  who  touched  the  hem  of  your  garment. 
Be  just  to  us. ' '  The  cry  is  still  for  mercy.  We  must  come  to 
Christ  not  with  claims  but  with  prayers. 

This  reference  to  mercy  is  a  religious  reference.  It  goes  back  to 
the  roots  and  causes  of  things.  Blindness  is  a  symptom — the  dis- 
ease is  in  the  heart.  Lameness,  deafness,  paralysis — these  are  ac- 
cidents, attendant  phenomena,  mere  symptoms  of  something  within, 
and  you  may  as  well  repair  your  roof  in  order  to  heal  your  sick 
child  as  you  may  attend  to  some  outward  symptom  to  heal  the 
life.  There  is  but  one  cure;  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's 
Son,  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  You  must  be  born  again.  The 
work  is  inward,  vital,  complete.  Do  not  fret  your  energy  and 
waste  your  time  by  attempting  to  deal  with  symptoms,  but  get  to 
the  root  and  cause  of  the  fatal  malady.  Blindness  is  the  symp- 
tom, sin  is  the  disease  ;  there  is  only  one  disease,  and  its  bad 
name  is — sin.  When  sin  is  destroyed,  health  will  be  re-estab- 
lished and  sadness  will  vanish  like  the  last  night,  taking  with  it  all 
its  blackness,  and  dampness,  and  misery. 

Those  men  were  not  as  blind  as  they  looked.  They  were  blind 
in  the  body,  but  their  eyes  within  were  bright  as  lamps,  keen,  pierc- 


io6  FAITH   THE  MEASURE  OF  FROGRES'^. 

ing,  far-seeing  ;  they  had  the  vision  of  faith.  There  is  no  other 
vision  that  will  last  a  man's  lifetime  ;  that  vision  sees  in  the  dark, 
sees  through  mountains,  pierces  the  screen  of  night — it  is  the  true 
vision.  Those  blind  men  had  seen  Christ  a  long  time  with  the 
vision  of  their  hearts.  There  is  an  unconscious  preparation  for 
great  events  ;  those  great  events  seem  to  come  to  us  suddenly,  but 
in  reality  they  are  the  culmination  of  long  and  subtle  processes. 
One  ought  to  have  overheard  them  talking  about  the  new  man, 
the  great  Healer,  the  King  of  men.  How  they  discussed  together 
their  manner  of  approach,  what  they  would  say  to  him,  how  they 
|iVould  bring  the  case  under  his  notice,  how  they  corrected  one  an- 
other as  to  their  views  and  estimates  of  the  yet  unknown  Healer, 
how  Jesus  Christ  came  suddenly — for  he  always  comes  suddenly, 
though  he  has  been  ten  thousand  ages  on  the  way  ;  when  we  hear 
the  crush  of  his  chariot  wheel,  it  will  startle  us  like  thunder  at  mid- 
night. They  went  forward,  and  probably  did  not  say  one  word  of 
all  they  had  prepared.  The  heart  must  be  extemporaneous  in  its 
utterances,  the  heart  cannot  have  its  little  piece  of  paper  or  string 
of  parchment ;  a  thousand  preparations  will  be  made  for  Christ, 
and  yet  when  he  does  come  the  heart  will  answer  him  spontane- 
ously, and  there  is  a  spontaneity  that  is  better  than  the  most  elab- 
orate preparation. 

Now  let  us  hear  Christ  himself  upon  the  subject :  "  Then 
touched  he  their  eyes,  saying.  According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto 
you."  We  find  the  vessel,  he  finds  its  heavenly  contents.  If  we 
have  no  vessel,  we  cannot  catch  the  rain  ;  if  we  have  no  goblet 
of  faith,  we  cannot  catch  the  wine  of  grace.  We  must  be  co- 
operative in  this  matter  ;  there  is  a  human  side  as  well  as  a  side 
divine  in  all  this  great  mystery  of  human  healing  and  human 
growth.  Jesus  Christ,  as  we  have  often  had  occasion  to  point 
out,  gave  people  the  impression  that  they  had  cured  themselves. 
I  have  never  seen  Jesus  Christ  put  the  crown  upon  genius,  beauty, 
power,  but  I  have  been  present  on  a  thousand  coronations,  when 
he  encircled  the  brows  of  modesty  with  the  choicest  garlands  of 
heaven. 

There  is  a  great  law  here,  which  the  Church  would  do  well  to 
ponder.  It  is  the  law  which  expresses  the  solemn  and  gracious 
fact  that  our  faith  is  the  measure  of  our  progress  in  divine  things. 


MATTHEW  IX.  27-31.  107 

If  the  healing  had  not  been  wrought  in  the  case  of  these  blind 
men,  the  fault  would  have  been  with  the  men  themselves.  This 
is  the  true  reading  of  our  Saviour's  word,  namely,  "  According  to 
your  faith,  be  it  unto  you. ' '  If  your  faith  is  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion, you  shall  have  what  you  need  ;  if  your  faith  fall  below  the 
occasion,  you  will  be  as  blind  as  ever.  You  may  touch  the  right 
Christ,  but  if  you  touch  him  with  a  cold  hand,  you  will  receive 
nothing  in  return.  Not  only  must  we  go  to  the  right  altar,  we 
must  go  in  the  right  spirit.  The  true  spirit  is  shown  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  woman — "  If  I  may  but  touch  his  garment  I  shall  be 
whole. ' '  How  is  it  that  the  Church  is  not  succeeding  to-day  i^ 
Because  the  Church  has  intelligence,  but  not  faith.  How  is  it  that 
the  Church  is  empty  to-day,  and  Christ  forsaken }  Because  his 
Church  has  taken  to  argument,  analysis,  metaphysical  disquisition, 
controversial  statement,  high  and  dry  systematic  divinity,  and  has 
lost  faith.  Why  is  this  the  devil's  carnival,  why  is  this  the  saturna- 
lia of  the  pit  .^  Because  we,  as  a  Church,  are  clever,  but  not  in- 
spired. We  have  taken  to  reckoning  religion,  and  laying  a  line 
upon  it,  and  dividing  it  into  fragments  and  sections  ;  we  have  taken 
to  a  species  of  religious  architecture,  giving  elevations,  and  side 
views,  and  sections,  and  detailed  drawings,  as  if  the  Church  were 
a  trick  in  masonry  instead  of  a  glowing  and  living  faith. 

The  Church  will  always  go  down  in  proportion  as  its  faith  de- 
clines. For  God's  sake  do  not  be  clever — have  faith  in  God. 
Lord,  increase  our  faith  !  If  ye  had  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard- 
seed,  ye  would  say  to  this  mountain,  "Depart,"  and  the  moun- 
tain would,  so  to  say,  take  to  its  feet  and  move  off.  We  now 
have  theories  of  inspiration,  theories  of  the  atonement,  theories  of 
justification  by  faith.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  Christ's  great 
work  for  the  human  family  requires  a  volume  of  five  hundred  pages 
to  make  it  clear  ?  Then  is  the  salvation  of  the  world  impossible. 
The  atonement  is  a  flash  of  the  mind,  a  passion  of  the  heart,  one 
transient  glimpse  of  an  infinite  tragedy,  one  touch  of  hot  heart- 
blood.  It  is  not  a  five-hundred-page  octavo  in  which  theology 
perpetrates  its  miserable  legerdemain,  and  creates  night  for  the 
satisfaction  of  throwing  up  rockets  in  its  face.  Lord,  increase  our 
faith  !  take  us  away  from  the  so-called  fact-world,  with  its  mis- 
named realities,  and  lead  us  into  the  invisible  temple,  the  hidden 
sanctuary,  the  house  in  the  clouds,  and  show  us  there  thy  grace  ; 


io8  MIRACLES  AND   THE   GOSPEL. 

then  send  us  down  all  the  mountain  steep  to  find  the  lunatic  and 
heal  him,  the  blind  and  give  him  sight,  the  deaf  and  give  him 
hearing.  The  Church  will  one  day  take  its  cleverness  up  to  some 
Moriah,  draw  its  glittering  knife  and  slay  the  enemy,  and  then  the 
Church  will  put  on  her  beautiful  garments,  and  neither  be 
ashamed  of  the  mystery  of  faith  nor  of  the  obedience  of  love. 

' '  And  Jesus  straitly  charged  them,  saying,  See  that  no  man 
know  it. "  Mark  the  wisdom  of  this  arrangement.  Whatever  is 
done  to  a  mere  individual,  or  to  an  individual  merely  as  such,  is 
not  worth  talking  about.  You  have  had  your  eyes  opened  ;  that 
is  of  no  consequence  to  the  universe  ;  do  not  speak  about  that. 
Do  not  talk  with  a  provincial  accent ;  speak  the  universal  lan- 
guage. If  your  heart  has  been  blest,  tell  us  ;  if  your  skin  has 
been  cleansed  or  your  ears  have  been  unstopped,  keep  the  little 
news  to  yourself.  Jesus  Christ  was  not  a  mere  miracle-monger, 
Jesus  Christ  was  not  a  creator  of  little  anecdotes,  Jesus  Christ  was 
himself  the  gospel.  Jesus  Christ  never  said  about  the  beaiiludes, 
' '  See  that  ye  tell  no  man. ' '  When  he  said,  ' '  Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  he  did  not 
add,  ' '  See  that  ye  tell  no  man. "  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn, 
for  they  shall  be  comforted — see  that  ye  tell  no  man.  Blessed  are 
the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God— see  that  ye  tell  no 
man. ' '  Keep  your  individual  romances  to  yourself  ;  they  are  not 
worth  talking  about ;  if  you  have  a  gospel,  go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 

Understand  the  difference  between  a  miracle  and  a  gospel,  and 
you  will  understand  how  it  was  that  Jesus  Christ  never  cared 
about  his  miracles  being  talked  about ;  but  when  he  came  to  his 
gospel,  the  earth  was  too  small  a  stage  and  time  too  mean  a  theatre 
in  which  to  declare  the  infinite  love  and  bid  the  universe  hear. 
The  gospel  is  the  common  speech  of  the  race.  Mere  eye-opening 
or  unstopping  of  the  ear  is  a  case  that  may  occur  here  and  there  ; 
the  symptom  is  personal  and  the  circumstances  are  narrow,  but 
the  healing  of  the  heart  is  a  matter  in  which  the  whole  race  is  in- 
terested. The  whole  head  is  sick  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint. 
If  you  can  find  a  man  who  can  cleanse  us  and  make  us  pure  and 
happy,  tell  us  his  name.  Talk  of  individual  cases  to  individual 
sufferers,  but  speak  the  universal  language  to  the  universal  heart 


XL. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thy  word  is  like  a  great  balm  upon  the  wound  of  our 
life,  full  of  comforting,  give  us  the  feeling  of  a  new  hope.  Thou  hast 
surely  bruised  the  life  of  man  at  every  point  and  given  him  to  know  the 
bitterness  of  great  sorrow  and  the  acuteness  of  intolerable  pain  ;  thou 
hast  followed  such  visitations  with  great  grace,  with  consolations  greater 
than  the  sorrows  they  would  soothe  ;  as  where  sin  aboundeth  grace  doth 
much  more  bound,  so  where  our  sorrow  multiplies  itself,  thy  solaces,  in- 
crease in  number  and  their  gentleness  doth  recover  our  hope.  Thou  hast 
made  us  as  a  pelican  in  the  wilderness,  as  an  owl  in  the  desert,  as  a  spar- 
row sitting  alone  upon  the  house-top,  and  then  thou  hast  gathered  us 
into  great  places,  poured  thy  summer  light  upon  us,  and  sent  thy  tender 
music  through  our  drooping  hearts,  and  with  infinite  plenteousness  of 
rain  hast  thou  refreshed  the  thirsty  land,  and  with  infinite  light  hast  thou 
restored  the  comfort  and  the  hope  of  man. 

We  have  read  thy  word,  and  there  is  no  music  so  inspiring  and  uplift- 
ing. We  feel  that  we  are  one  with  the  ages  gone,  that  the  saints  of  the 
early  Church  had  experience  which  we  reproduce,  so  that  we  are  all  one, 
and  as  our  sorrow  is  one,  so  is  the  source  of  our  healing  and  joy.  Age  after 
age  comes  to  thee,  each  with  its  own  cry,  each  with  its  own  wound,  and 
thou  dost  multiply  thy  comforts  upon  all  time,  and  write  the  testimony  of 
thy  grace  upon  the  rising  and  dying  generations. 

We  have  come  each  with  his  own  song  to-day.  We  sing  of  the  bless- 
ings at  home  ;  thou  hast  given  us  light  there,  and  there  thou  hast  set 
bread  before  us,  morning,  noon,  and  night.  Thou  hast  protected  and 
defended  the  household,  and  our  family  life  to-day  is  a  witness  to  thy 
superintending  and  gracious  care.  Hear  us,  then,  as  heads  of  houses, 
fathers  and  mothers,  and  households  complete,  when  we  sing  of  thy 
g9odness  and  mercy  and  bless  thee  for  our  life  at  home.  Thou  hast 
watched  us  in  all  the  daily  commerce  of  life,  in  our  buying  and  selling 
and  getting  gain,  in  our  endeavours  and  our  failures,  in  our  enterprises 
and  our  successes — behold  the  whole  is  before  thee  ;  what  came  not  of 
thine  inspiration  do  thou  utterly  destroy  ;  that  which  came  of  the  motion 
of  thine  own  Spirit  thou  wilt  establish  in  imperishable  integrity  and 
honour. 

Do  thou  grant  unto  us  daily  ministries  from  Heaven,  so  that  we  may 
know  what  is  the  good  and  acceptable  way,  so  that  we  may  have  an  in- 


I  lo  PRA  YER. 

creasing  love  for  all  that  is  true,  beautiful,  and  divine,  and  so  that  our 
whole  life  may  move  upon  an  ascending  line,  never  knowing  the  joy  of 
contentment  until  that  contentment  is  found  in  thyself.  Give  us  a  strong 
grip  of  truth,  give  us  a  healthy  and  honest  heart,  loving  the  truth  and 
pursuing  that  which  is  holy.  As  for  our  trials  and  difficulties,  what  are 
they  but  the  shadow  of  the  time  through  which  we  pass  ?  They  have  a 
meaning  which  we  cannot  read  wholly  just  now  ;  in  the  hurry  and  rush 
of  our  dying  life  we  have  but  little  time  for  the  deeper  and  broader  read- 
ing of  life,  but  we  will  trust  in  the  Living  One — all  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God.  This  shall  be  our  anchor  in  the  wild 
sea,  this  shall  be  our  light  in  the  time  of  darkness,  and  here  shall  we  find 
our  peace  when  the  storm  is  strongest. 

We  commend  one  another  to  thy  tender  care.  There  are  here  broken 
hearts,  men  who  are  wounded  in  their  very  life,  souls  that  can  see  noth- 
ing but  great  gloom,  without  a  star  to  break  its  despairing  night.  There 
are  those  whose  goblet  is  full  of  choice  wine,  whose  life  is  a  daily  song, 
and  whose  continuance  upon  the  earth  is  an  unbroken  health.  Accord- 
ing to  our  experience,  whether  it  be  this  or  that,  let  thy  blessing  come  to 
every  heart  amongst  us,  and  send  none  away  untouched,  unillumined, 
unblest.  Let  all  the  people  praise  thee,  yea,  let  all  the  people  praise 
thee,  with  songs,  feeble  or  loud,  but  all  coming  from  the  heart,  because 
of  thine  infinite  tenderness  and  thine  immeasurable  grace.  Comfort  the 
old  with  surprising  light  and  joy,  direct  the  young  man  whose  purposes 
are  set  in  the  right  direction,  and  give  him  favour  in  the  sight  of  the 
people,  that  all  his  honourable  plans  and  purposes  may  be  consummated 
in  a  success  which  thou  canst  approve.  Speak  to  those  whose  lives  are 
rounds  of  monotony,  always  the  same,  always  hoping,  never  realizing, 
always  waiting,  and  never  satisfied  with  the  one  answer  that  alone  can 
bring  content.  The  Lord  show  us  the  place  of  patience  in  our  disci- 
pline, and  help  us  to  wait  with  the  patience  that  shall  itself  be  as  a  hero- 
ism in  thy  sight. 

Hear  any  who  have  special  praises  to  offer  thee  for  life  given  and  for 
life  spared.  The  Lord  hear  such  family  praise  and  grant  unto  it  confir- 
mation day  by  day  of  renewed  favour  and  support.  Hear  the  praise  of 
those  who  thank  thee  for  returned  friends,  for  absences  brought  to  an 
end,  and  for  fellowships  reunited.  Hear  the  hymn  of  those  who  would 
bless  thee  in  fervent  song  for  guidance  and  protection  on  land  and 
water,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  who  return  to  us  this  day  to  utter  their 
praises  in  the  common  song. 

The  Lord  go  out  after  those  who  would  not  come  with  us,  after  the 
prodigal,  wanton,  wild,  desperate  man,  a  fool,  a  criminal,  hard  of  heart 
— seek  for  him  thyself,  thou  Shepherd  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  for 
our  feet  are  weary,  and  our  eyes  fail  through  searching.  The  Lord  be 
with  those  who  could  not  come  with  us,  with  the  sick,  the  weak,  the 
aged,  those  whose  next  sight  will  be  thyself  and  whose  next  worship  will 
be  in  heaven.     The  Lord  hear  every  cry,  and  specially  the  cry  for  pardon 


MATTHEW  IX.    32-35. 


which  is  uttered  at  the  Saviour's  cross — great  cross,  wondrous  tree,  altar 
of  the  one  sacrifice,  scene  of  the  one  shedding  of  blood  that  can  alone 
touch  the  malady  and  the  agony  of  life  ! 

The  Lord  hear  us,  and  His  hearing  shall  itself  be  as  an  answer. 
Amen. 

Matthew  ix.  32-35. 

32.  As  they  went  out,  behold  they  brought  to  him  a  dumb  man  pos- 
sessed with  a  devil. 

33.  And  when  the  devil  was  cast  out,  the  dumb  spake  :  and  the  multi- 
tudes marvelled,  saying.  It  was  never  so  seen  in  Israel. 

34.  But  the  Pharisees  said,  He  casteth  out  devils  through  the  prince 
of  the  devils. 

35.  And  Jesus  went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  every 
sickness  and  every  disease  among  the  people. 


CHRIST  MUST  BE  ACCOUNTED  FOR. 

OU  will  find  a  fuller  account  of  the  same  matter  in  the  Gos- 
pel according  to  Mark,  3  :  22  : — ■ 


Y 


And  the  Scribes  which  came  down  from  Jerusalem  said,  He  hath  Beel- 
zebub, and  by  the  prince  of  the  devils  casteth  he  out  devils. 

And  he  called  them  unto  him,  and  said  unto  them,  in  parables.  How 
can  Satan  cast  out  Satan  ? 

And  if  a  kingdom  be  divided  against  itself,  that  kingdom  cannot  stand. 

And  if  a  house  be  divided  against  itself,  that  house  cannot  stand. 

And  if  Satan  rise  up  against  himself  and  be  divided,  he  cannot  stand, 
but  hath  an  end. 

No  man  can  enter  into  a  strong  man's  house  and  spoil  his  goods, 
except  he  first  bind  the  strong  man,  and  then  he  will  spoil  his  house. 

Verily  I  say  unto  you.  All  sins  shall  be  forgiven  unto  the  sons  of  men, 
and  blasphemies  wherewith  soever  they  shall  blaspheme. 

But  he  that  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  never  forgive- 
ness, but  is  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation. 

Because  they  said.  He  hath  an  unclean  spirit. 

You  will  see  from  these  words  that  Christianity  has  to  be  ac- 
counted for.  Men  must  have  some  opinion  about  its  origin  and 
about  its  inspiration,  and  concerning  its  whole  scope  and  purpose. 
It  is  not,  indeed,  Christianity  that  has  to  be  accounted  for  so  much 
as  it  is  Christ  himself.  There  is  a  time  in  the  life  of  every  con- 
siderable man  when  his  friends  begin  to  wonder  how  he  came  to 


112  ACCOUNTING  FOR   CHRIST. 

be  what  he  is,  and  that  which  constitutes  a  common  theme  of  in- 
quiry amongst  ourselves  reaches  its  very  highest  point  of  intensity 
and  significance  in  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  Man.  Do 
nothing  in  the  world,  and  nobody  will  care  who  you  are  or  whence 
you  came.  You  will  not  be  a  figure,  you  will  not  be  a  force  in 
society,  you  do  not  start  any  impulses  that  move  other  men,  you 
throw  no  new  lights  upon  the  path  of  life,  there  never  comes  into 
your  voice  a  startling  tone  ;  nobody  cares,  therefore,  who  you  are 
and  whence  you  came,  it  is  a  point  of  concern  to  no  one  to  ac- 
count for  you,  simply  because  there  is  nothing  to  be  accounted 
for.  But  challenge  the  thinking  of  the  time,  put  truth  in  new 
phases  and  aspects  before  the  intellect  of  the  age,  startle  the  world 
by  challenging  its  ancient  orthodoxies  and  its  most  accredited  tra- 
ditions and  prejudices,  then  perhaps  people  may  begin  to  say, 
"  Who  are  you  ?     By  what  authority  doest  thou  these  things  .?" 

These  questions  arose  continually  in  connection  with  Jesus 
Christ.  "  Who  is  he .?  Is  he  not  the  son  of  Mary  and  of  Joseph  ? 
Are  not  his  brethren  and  his  sisters  with  us  ?  From  whence  hath 
this  Man  this  wisdom  and  these  mighty  works  1  Whence  do  they 
come  .?"  Thus  Jesus  became  the  problem  of  his  age.  He  is  the 
problem  of  all  time  ;  he  is  the  secret  and  the  terror  of  human  his- 
tory ;  he  is  the  hope  and  the  light  of  human  prophecy,  and  to- 
day men  wonder  who  he  is  ;  they  reject  his  claims,  and  they  call 
him  back  to  ask  him  further  questions.  It  is,  therefore,  not  so 
much  Christianity  that  has  to  be  accounted  for  as  Christ  Himself, 
for  in  very  deed  Christ  is  Christianity,  Christ  is  the  Gospel.  This 
is  a  matter  of  personality,  not  of  abstraction  or  of  metaphysics. 

Now  there  have  been  various  accounts  given  of  Christ,  and  we 
have  one  of  these  accounts  in  the  text.  Ask  worldliness  what  it  has 
to  say  about  Christ  and  Christianity.  The  answer  will  be,  ' '  No 
doubt  Christ  is  a  very  good  man  ;  probably  a  little  fanatical  in  his 
methods,  with  very  fine  theories,  and  if  they  could  be  carried  out 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  the  world,  but  we  cannot  carry  them 
out,  they  are  too  fine-spun.  No  doubt  he  was  a  good  man,  and 
we  have  nothing  to  say  against  him  ;"  and  worldliness  passes  on, 
to  add  another  window  to  its  shop  and  another  acre  to  its  estates. 
Compliment  is  faint  praise  :  there  is  no  sting  or  viciousness  in  it ; 
it  is  good  so  far  as  it  goes. 

Ask   mere  intellechialism  to  account  for  Christ.      "A  myth,    a 


MATTHEW  IX.   32-35.  113 

fable,  a  dream,  a  poem — not  without  fascination,  often  glittering 
in  its  sparks  of  happy  suggestion,  but  a  myth,  a  conception  of  the 
mind,  a  piece  of  beautiful  patchwork.  If  we  cared  to  go  into  its 
discrepancies  we  could  upset  the  historic  credibility  of  the  whole, 
but  we  are  content  to  say,  a  myth,  and  to  pass  on. ' ' 

Ask  prejudice  to  account  for  Christ  and  his  work.  The  bad  an- 
swer is  in  the  text,  ' '  He  casteth  out  devils  through  the  prince  of 
the  devils." 

Note  the  difference  in  those  replies.  Worldliness,  engaged  in 
its  occupations,  its  brain  in  the  whirl  and  rush  of  money-making 
and  business  and  enterprise,  says,  **  No  doubt  Jesus  Christ  was  a 
very  good  man  ;  we  have  no  fault  to  find  with  him,  but  we  have 
no  time  to  go  into  all  his  claims  and  to  settle  his  place  in  his- 
tory."  Cold  intellectualism  says,  "  Fable,  fantasy,  myth — very 
good  in  its  way,  nothing  more."  Prejudice,  with  low  brow  and 
muffled  face,  with  a  mien  that  indicates  everything  that  can  de- 
grade human  grandeur,  says,  "  He  casteth  out  devils  by  the  prince 
of  the  devils.  He  is  in  league  with  Beelzebub,  and  learned  in 
Satanic  tricks. ' ' 

Now  observe,  every  one  of  those  theories  has  its  own  peculiar 
difficulties.  The  worldly  man  finds  a  character  in  history  that 
stands  back  from  his  policies  and  programmes,  that  says,  "  Labour 
not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth.  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesseth.  Take  no  thought 
or  the  morrow,  for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the  things 
of  itself.  Have  your  treasure  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor 
rust  corrupteth,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal  ;"  and  worldliness  can  only  say,  "  Very  good  ;  a  fine  theory, 
but  impracticable."  Still,  there  stands  a  man  that  said  these 
things  and  that  lived  them  :  he  is  not  put  down  by  a  compliment, 
neither  is  he  shattered  by  an  assault.  To-day  his  holy  gospel  lifts 
its  sweet  and  serene  voice  amid  all  the  tumult  of  conflicting  teach- 
ings, and  says,  ' '  Your  life  is  within  you  :  be  rather  than  merely 
have:  live  in  God— seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you  ;"  and 
worldliness  with  its  little  shallow  compliment,  does  not  account  for, 
with  any  adequacy  of  explanation,  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  man 
who  kept  the  world  under  his  feet  and  his  heart  in  the  very  heaven 
of  God. 


114  BEWARE  OF  PREJUDICE. 

And  the  cold  intellect  leaves  the  Christ  just  where  it  found  him. 
The  intellectualist  has  to  account  for  a  man  who  was  dreamed  into 
being.  Then  the  dreamer  must  himself  be  equal  to  the  man  he 
dreamed.  You  have  to  account  for  a  man  born  in  the  imagination 
of  some  other  man,  and  who,  as  a  creature  of  imagination,  has 
risen  to  the  supreme  place  in  human  history,  and  who  to-day  rules 
innumerable  millions  of  human  lives  and  ministries  and  destinies. 
It  is  easy  to  call  him  and  his  work  mythical,  romantic,  fabulous, 
but  that  does  not  account  for  the  profound  moral  influence,  the 
beneficent  results,  and  the  whole  ministry  that  is  represented  by 
the  term- — Christ,  or  by  the  phrase — the  Christian  Church. 

But  what  shall  we  say  about  the  answer  of  prejudice  }  What  is 
prejudice — who  can  define  it  ?  How  it  spoils  our  life,  how  it 
takes  the  bloom  off  the  finest  fruits  that  grow  in  the  garden  or 
human  fellowship.  Once  let  prejudice  occupy  your  mind,  and 
the  object  of  that  prejudice  can  never  be  good,  or  seem  good,  of 
do  good,  or  think  good.  He  may  do  the  noblest  works  ever  done 
by  human  energy,  but  you  will  not  allow  him  to  be  crowned  be- 
cause he  has  accomplished  them  ;  yea,  he  may  serve  you  and 
your  family  night  and  day,  but  you  will  find  the  devil  in  his 
prayers,  selfishness  in  his  benevolence,  and  his  very  light  shall  be 
darkness,  and  all  his  meaning  shall  be  a  piece  of  self-idolatry. 
Beware  of  prejudice.  We  can  answer  an  argument,  we  can  rebut  a 
charge,  but  who  can  find  out  the  root  and  the  issue  of  irrational 
and  vicious  prejudice  ?  There  are  some  men  who  never  can  do 
right  in  our  estimation.  They  may  be  gifted  with  genius,  their 
character  may  be  above  suspicion,  and  all  their  work  may  be  of  a 
high  type,  but  we  hate  them,  and  therefore,  when  we  are  called 
upon  to  explain  their  influence  or  to  account  for  their  character, 
we  are  willing  to  accredit  the  devil  with  the  whole  rather  than  to 
speak  one  just  word  about  the  man  we  detest. 

Beware  of  prejudice  :  it  enters  the  mind  very  subtly,  and  once 
in  the  mind,  it  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  its  occupants  and  rulers 
to  dislodge.  It  is  irrational,  you  cannot  get  hold  of  it,  it  has 
no  centre,  it  acknowledges  no  court  of  appeal,  it  is  invisible.  It 
was  from  such  prejudice  that  Jesus  Christ  suffered.  When  the 
Pharisees  and  the  Scribes  and  the  most  religious  men  of  the  day 
heard  the  dumb  speaking  and  were  made  aware  that  the  deaf  could 
hear  and  the  lame  could  walk  and  could  see  all  the  goocf  works 


MATTHEW  IX.   32-35.  115 


done  by  Christ  and  his  disciples,  they  were  wiUing  rather  to  praise 
the  devil  than  to  praise  him. 

See  to  what  degradation  prejudice  may  drag  you  ;  and  we  are 
all  exposed  to  the  influence  of  prejudice.  Beware  of  it,  it  is  the 
worst  of  the  devils,  it  skulks,  it  sneaks,  it  watches  in  silence,  it 
drops  its  poison  into  the  cup  when  nobody  is  looking.  It  is  the 
biggest  of  thieves,  it  is  the  most  noted  of  liars,  it  is  the  most  persist- 
ent of  persecutors,  and  yet  all  the  time  it  can  cause  those  who  are 
its  subjects  upon  the  largest  scale  to  disown  it.  Have  we  not  all 
heard  men  who  were  known  to  be  all  but  filled  with  prejudice 
declare,  with  a  serene  innocence,  that  they  were  perfectly  sure  that 
they  were  not  at  all  animated  by  prejudice  1  It  is  a  horrible  devil, 
k  swears  and  breaks  its  oath,  it  will  kiss  any  Bible,  and  burn  the 
book  it  kissed,  and  put  the  oath  into  the  fire,  that  they  may  both 
go  to  the  same  hot  ashes.  Are  there  not  some  men  you  so  bit- 
terly dislike  that  they  can  do  nothing  good  in  your  sight  ?  It  was 
from  prejudice  that  Christ  suffered. 

Now  I  want  to  turn  and  to  consider  Christ's  answer  to  this  preju- 
dice. The  answer  was  argumentative.  Having  heard  what  the 
Scribes  which  came  down  from  Jerusalem  said,  he  called  them 
unto  him,  and  said  unto  them  in  parables,  ' '  How  can  Satan  cast 
out  Satan  .?  And  if  a  kingdom  be  divided  against  itself  that  king- 
dom cannot  stand,  and  if  a  house  be  divided  against  itself  that 
house  cannot  stand,  and  if  Satan  rise  up  against  himself  and  be 
divided  he  cannot  stand,  but  hath  an  end."  That  was  an  argu- 
mentative reply.  Christianity  has  an  argumentative  answer  to 
every  assault.  Christianity  can  fight  for  its  position  with  any 
weapons  that  an  enemy  may  choose.  Did  you  ever  know  a  case 
of  the  so-called  redudio  ad  absurdum  so  complete  as  this  ?  The 
Scribes  thought  they  had  answered  the  whole  case  by  referring  it  to 
a  diabolic  origin.  Jesus  said,  "  How  can  Satan  cast  out  Satan  } 
And  if  a  kingdom  be  divided  against  itself  that  kingdom  cannot 
stand,  and  if  a  house  be  divided  against  itself  that  house  cannot 
stand." 

I  ask  you  to  look  at  that  answer  in  the  light  of  argument,  and 
tell  me  if  it  could  be  improved  in  its  logical  construction  and 
force.  He  confounded  the  enemy  out  of  his  own  mouth.  He 
took  the  sword  from  the  enemy  and  thrust  it  into  the  enemy's  own 
heart.     That  is  what  Christianity  can  always  do.      I  have  heard  all 


ii6  CHRIST'S    JUDICIAL  ANSWER. 


the  arguments  that  can  be  addressed  against  Christianity,  and  I 
have  never  heard  one  that  could  not  be  triumphantly  answered  and 
repelled.  This  is  a  specimen  of  the  answers  that  can  be  given  :  it 
gleams  with  wit,  it  strikes  like  a  spear,  it  burns  like  a  fire.  There 
is  no  reply  possible  to  that  argument.  How  can  Satan  cast  out 
Satan  .?  If  Satan  be  divided  against  himself  he  cannot  stand,  if  a 
house  be  divided  against  itself  it  cannot  stand,  if  a  man  be  divided 
against  himself  he  cannot  stand.      Division  is  destruction. 

Consider,  therefore,  that  Jesus  Christ' s  answer  was,  in  the  first 
place,  distinctly  and  broadly  argumentative.  In  the  next  place  it 
was  Judicial.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  stop  at  the  argumentative  ; 
having  shown  his  adversaries  how  their  logic  limped,  and  how 
their  accounting  for  his  supremacy  was  not  only  a  lie  but  an 
absurdity,  he  said,  "Verily,  assuredly,  I  say  unto  you,  all  sins 
shall  be  forgiven  unto  the  sons  of  men,  and  blasphemies  wherewith 
soever  they  shall  blaspheme,  but  he  that  shall  blaspheme  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  never  forgiveness,  but  is  in  danger  of  eternal 
damnation,"  because  they  said,  "  He  hath  an  unclean  spirit." 
Christianity  is  something  more  than  an  argumentative  contest. 
This  is  not  a  question  of  whether  one  point  is  fifty  miles  distant 
from  another  point,  it  is  a  question  that  involves  moral  issues, 
tremendous  outgoings,  it  involves  the  whole  question  of  personal 
and  universal  destiny.  In  the  first  part  of  his  answer  the  tone  of 
Christ  was  light,  trenchant,  bright,  as  became  a  merely  argumenta- 
tive retort.  Suddenly  that  voice,  bright  as  all  the  lights  of  heaven, 
sobered  and  broadened  into  thunder  as  he  said,  ' '  This  is  the  kind 
of  sin  that  never  can  be  forgiven."  When  you  come  with  these 
Christian  questions  you  do  not  come  into  an  exercise  of  merely 
intellectual  gymnastics  ;  this  is  not  a  question  of  one  man  being 
cleverer  than  another  in  the  use  of  mere  words,  it  is  not  a  clash  of 
wooden  swords,  it  is  a  question  of  life  or  death.  The  Scribes 
thought  they  had  given  an  answer  sufficient  in  its  contemptuous- 
ness  when  they  referred  Christ  and  his  miracles  to  the  devil.  They 
little  knew  all  they  were  doing  :  they  were  writing  on  heaven's 
own  scroll  their  own  unpardonableness. 

Take  care  how  you  treat  the  Bible,  the  altar,  the  Church. 
Words  of  contempt  may  easily  rise  to  your  lips,  but  they  may 
mean  more  than  you  intend  them  to  mean.  You  throw  a  little 
pebble  into  the  broad  lake  :  you  thought  it  would  go  straight  down 


MATTHEW  IX.    32-35.  117 


and  be  seen  no  more.  So  far  you  may  be  right,  but  the  circles 
are  on  the  surface,  and  they  vibrate  and  widen  and  multiply  and 
make  the  whole  lake  throb,  and  who  can  tell  what  may  come  out 
of  a  contemptuous  criticism  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  ministry  ? 
Beware  of  clever  blasphemers,  of  those  little  agile  blasphemers 
who  make  atheism  an  easy  trick  in  words,  and  get  rid  of  the  uni- 
verse and  its  mysteries  by  the  nod  of  an  empty  head.  There  are 
moral  issues,  there  are  judicial  penalties,  there  are  certain  un- 
governable recoils.  A  man  has  not  done  with  his  words  merely 
when  he  has  uttered  them  ;  they  go  away  from  him  and  are  judged 
and  sent  back  again  upon  his  life,  angels  that  bless  him,  or 
shadows  that  turn  his  day  into  night.  We  have  known  this  in 
countless  instances.  The  men  themselves  have  not  always  been 
able  to  explain  the  mystery  ;  but  find  out  men  who  are  suffering 
in  divers  ways,  not  always  to  be  set  forth  in  express  words,  and  it 
is  not  impossible,  if  you  trace  their  history  sufficiently  back,  but 
that  you  may  find  that  these  practical  bitternesses,  these  black  har- 
vests, are  the  results  of  early  blasphemies  or  profanities  of  the 
heart.  Understand,  therefore,  that  the  blatant  atheist  who  sells 
his  atheism  and  pronounces  its  first  little  syllable  with  a  vicious 
emphasis,  does  not  always  see  or  feel  at  the  moment  the  result 
of  his  blasphemies. 

Jesus  Christ  is  not  short-coming  in  the  matter  of  his  forgiveness, 
but  there  is  a  point  at  which  his  pardons  are  themselves  shut 
out.  Say  he  has  an  unclean  spirit,  and  you  extinguish  the  sun 
that  makes  every  day  and  creates  every  summer,  and  having  put 
out  the  fountain  of  light,  there  is  no  -more  brightness  possible. 
Consider,  therefore,  that  Jesus  Christ's  answer  was,  in  the  second 
place,  strictly  and  solemnly  judicial.  That  reply  was  more  than 
either  argumentative  or  judicial — it  was,  in  the  third  place, 
practical.  The  proof  of  that  you  will  find  in  the  thirty-fifth  verse. 
"  And  Jesus  went  about  ail  the  cities  and  villages  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing 
every  sickness  and  every  disease  among  the  people."  That  is 
the  way  to  answer  your  enemies  :  keep  on  with  your  work  ;  any 
fool  can  resign,  it  requires  no  genius  and  no  heroism  to  give  up 
the  pulpit,  or  to  withdraw  from  the  Church,  or  to  throw  up  what 
is  called  vulgarly  "the  whole  thing."  Jesus  Christ  did  not  do 
that ;  he  was  sometimes  driven  out,  but  he  would  not  be  driven 


n8  WAITING    WITH  PATIENCE. 

out  till  the  first  great  thunder  drops  of  the  storm  were  splashing  on 
the  pavement  whose  dust  had  rejected  him.  Then  he  said,  "  O 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thee  as  a 
hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not, 
but  now  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate, ' '  and  a  great  hollow 
wind  roared  through  the  metropolitan  streets,  and  great  blotches 
of  black  rain  fell  from  the  thunderous  clouds,  and  the  lightnings 
looked  from  every  point,  and  Jerusalem  was  being  swallowed  up. 
Blessed  One — they  told  him  that  he  was  in  league  with  the  devil, 
and  he  answered  them  in  witty  argument,  visited  them  with  judi- 
cial penalty — and  then  went  about  doing  good,  went  about  all  the 
cities  and  villages,  teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching 
the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  every  sickness  and  every 
disease  among  the  people.  Let  that  always  be  your  reply  to 
every  wicked  assault.  They  said,  "He  hath  a  devil;"  he  went 
about  teaching,  preaching,  and  healing.  Beneficent  reply, 
sharper  than  wit,  more  intelligible  than  judgment.  He  made  life, 
if  possible,  more  a  sacrifice  than  ever.  And  who  am  I  that  I 
should  resign,  when  Jesus,  my  Saviour,  might  have  resigned  his 
care  over  me  every  day  since  I  first  knew  him  }  I  have  wounded 
his  right  hand  and  his  left,  and  both  his  feet,  I  have  thrust  a  spear 
into  his  side,  and  crushed  the  thorns  into  his  temples,  and  I  have 
done  it  every  day,  and  still  he  will  not  give  me  up.  He  lets  the 
lifted  thunder  drop  ;  he  pursues  me  still.  Who  am  I,  then,  that 
I  because  of  some  rude  offence  or  incivility  on  the  part  of  man, 
should  run  away  from  the  altar  and  the  work  and  the  cross .?  I 
have  not  yet  resisted  unto  blood,  striving  against  any  sin,  or 
writhing  under  any  insult.  Let  us,  then,  run  with  patience  the 
race  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of 
our  faith,  who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured  the 
cross,  despising  the  shame,  scorning  it  with  a  divine  heroism,  and 
making  it  ashamed  of  itself. 

So,  then,  we  stand  on  rocky  foundations.  My  house  is  not 
built  upon  a  gilded  cloud  ;  I  stand  beside  Christ,  I  love  Christ,  I 
know  whom  I  have  believed.  He  has  been  more  insulted  than 
any  teacher ;  Pythagoras  would  have  dismissed  his  school, 
Socrates  would  have  run  away  from  his  mean  pupils  and  vicious 
critics  ;  this  man  never  gave  a  lesson  without  having  every  word 
of  it  turned  into  a. stone  and  thrown  back  into  his  own  teeth,  and 


MATTHEW  IX.   32-35.  119 

still  he  teaches  on.  He  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  but  he 
shall  one  day  be  the  desire  of  all  nations.  He  was  a  root  out  of  a 
dry  ground,  but  one  day  he  will  be  to  the  world  as  the  Flower  of 
Jesse  and  the  Plant  of  Renown.  He  can  wait.  Falsehood  is  in  a 
hurry  ;  it  may  be  at  any  moment  detected  and  punished  ;  truth  is 
calm,  serene,  its  judgment  is  on  high,  its  King  cometh  out  of  the 
chambers  of  eternity. 


XIJ. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  now  that  thou  hast  brought  us  to  this  our  closing  day, 
so  that  we  shall  be  separated  the  one  from  the  other  for  a  while,  we  de- 
sire to  look  back  with  gratitude,  and  to  bless  thee  with  fervent  hearts  for 
all  thy  lovingkindness  and  thy  tender  mercy.  To-day  we  set  up  our 
stone  of  memorial,  and  we  write  upon  it  "  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped 
us."  When  the  wind  was  cold  and  high,  thou  didst  draw  us  very  closely 
to  thyself  and  screen  us  from  the  bitter  blast  ;  when  the  hill  was  high  and 
rugged,  thou  didst  either  break  it  down  into  dust  and  throw  it  upon  the 
wind,  or  thou  didst  lead  us  up  with  ever  increasing  strength  until  its 
very  ascent  became  a  new  inspiration.  Through  much  land  of  beauty 
hast  thou  led  us,  through  the  cornfields  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  we  have 
plentifully  plucked  the  ripe  ears  and  have  rubbed  out  the  corn  in  our  hands, 
and  have  eaten  it  and  called  it  the  bread  of  heaven  ;  yea,  again  and  again 
hast  thou  called  us  to  the  wedding  festival,  and  thyself  hast  broken  the 
bread  for  us  and  poured  out  the  wine  that  refreshed  our  hearts.  Won- 
drous even  to  the  point  of  miracle,  an  infinite  surprise,  has  been  thy  pa- 
tience, thy  care,  thy  resource  ;  as  for  thy  grace,  no  hymn  of  ours  is  sweet 
enough  to  touch  the  ineffable  theme.  We  unite  now,  as  teacher,  as 
taught,  as  pastor  and  people,  and  in  all  the  various  relations  we  sustain 
to  one  another,  in  blessing  thee  for  the  year  which  closes  this  day,  and 
in  commending  one  another  to  thy  tender  care  during  the  separation  im- 
mediately to  ensue.  Let  this  be  the  brightest  of  ail  the  Sabbaths,  let  the 
benediction  of  this  day  sink  deeply  into  every  heart.  As  for  the 
shadows,  may  they  be  driven  away  with  a  great  light,  and  our  whole  tem- 
ple-life be  filled  with  thy  presence  and  be  resonant  with  thy  praises. 

Wherein  we  have  been  unkind  or  thoughtless  towards  one  another, 
the  Lord  have  pity  upon  us  and  altogether  forgive  every  soul.  Wherein 
we  have  thought  one  wrong  thought  or  uttered  one  word  lacking  in 
nobleness  and  in  the  fire  of  a  true  charity,  the  Lord  pity  our  infirmity  and 
forgive  our  sin.  Wherein  we  have  studied  thy  word  with  clearness  and 
insight  and  with  all  the  power  and  appropriation  of  high  and  illuminating 
sympathy,  the  Lord  give  us  a  keen  memory  of  everything  we  have 
studied,  and  enable  us  to  treasure  the  same  in  thoughtful  hearts,  and  to 
repronounce  it  in  noble  and  useful  lives. 

We  commend  one  another  day  by  day  to  thy  care  and  blessing.  Save 
us  every  one.  may  no  wanderer  be  lost,  may  no  hard  heart  maintain  its 


MATTHEW  IX.   36-38.  I2i 

obduracy  until  the  very  last,  may  the  hammer  of  the  Lord  smite  it  with 
effect,  may  the  most  stubborn  of  souls  offer  the  hospitality  of  its  love  to 
the  redeeming  Christ.  For  Christ  we  bless  thee  :  he  is  our  Lamb,  our 
Sacrifice,  our  Priest,  our  All  in  All,  beginning  before  the  beginning, 
stretching  his  duration  throughout  all  eternity,  the  very  origin  and  source 
and  purpose  of  the  everlasting.  O  bind  us  to  Christ,  cleanse  us  with  his 
blood,  fill  us  with  his  spirit,  and  make  us  all  ministers  of  his,  seen  and 
felt  afar  like  flames  of  fire. 

Let  this  house  be  dear  unto  thee  ;  thou  wilt  not  neglect  this  as  one  of 
thy  dwelling-places  ;  here  we  have  set  up  thine  altar,  and  laid  thy  Book 
open  wide  before  our  eyes  ;  here  we  have  endeavoured  to  magnifiy  thee 
in  hymn,  and  psalm,  and  anthem,  and  in  the  word  of  exposition  and  doc- 
trine of  truth.  O  dwell  here — keep  thou  the  house,  be  thou  the  preacher, 
be  thou  thyself  the  Paraclete^  and  enable  thy  people  who  shall  come  hither 
from  time  to  time  to  see  more  and  more  clearly  this  is  none  other  than 
the  house  of  God.  As  for  our  dwelling-places,  we  give  them  all  to  thee  ; 
thou  only  art  King  of  men  and  Saviour  of  souls  ;  make  our  habitations 
homes  indeed,  light  thou  the  fire  in  the  winter  time  and  give  thou  the 
message  to  the  flowers  that  grow  richly  around  in  the  time  of  summer. 

Bless  the  old  man  in  his  weakness,  the  little  child  in  its  opening 
dream,  the  busy  man  amid  all  his  honourable  industry,  the  patient  woman 
and  mother  in  all  her  domestic  ministry  ;  heal  the  sick,  lead  the  blind  by 
a  way  that  they  know  not,  bid  the  husbandman  be  of  good  heart  when  he 
cometh  forth  to  cut  the  field  and  throw  into  its  open  heart  the  seed  which 
shall  bring  forth  the  staff  of  life. 

The  Lord  hear  all  our  prayers  :  the  Lord  winnow  them  himself  that 
the  chaff  may  not  be  answered,  but  the  wheat  only  ;  thus  have  us  in  thy 
holy  keeping  day  by  day  till  the  little  life  wears  itself  quite  out  and 
becomes  part  of  thine  own  eternity.  The  Lord  comfort  his  people,  the 
Lord's  hand  dry  every  tear  from  the  eyes  of  sorrow,  and  the  Lord's 
almightiness  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  have  lost  their 
strength  and  are  feeling  the  pain  of  feebleness.     Amen. 

Matthew  ix.    36-38. 

36.  But  when  he  saw  the  multitudes,  he  was  moved  with  compassion 
on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were  scattered  abroad,  as  sheep  hav- 
ing no  shepherd. 

37.  Then  saith  he  unto  his  disciples,  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous, 
but  the  labourers  are  few  : 

38.  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth 
labourers  into  his  harvest. 


COMPASSION   THE  KEY- WORD. 


CHRIST'S  VIEW  OF  THE  WORLD. 

WHEN  we  read  that  he  was  moved  with  compassion,  we  feel 
that  it  did  not  require  much  to  move  the  pity  of  such  a 
heart.  It  was  not  moved  now  for  the  first  time.  Again  and 
again  as  we  come  along  the  line  of  the  sacred  narrative  we  have 
seen  his  tears,  we  have  heard  the  piteousness  of  many  of  his  tones, 
and  have  been  touched  by  the  pathos  of  many  of  his  deeds.  The 
key- word  of  this  divine  life  \%— Compassion.  If  you  do  not  seize 
that  word  in  its  true  meaning,  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  will  be  to 
you  little  more  than  either  a  romantic  surprise  or  a  dead  letter. 
It  is  not  a  life  of  genius,  it  is  not  a  display  of  literary  power,  it  is 
pre-eminently  yet  inclusively,  a  life  of  love,  a  history  of  compas- 
sion, an  exemplification  of  the  tenderest  aspects  of  the  infinite 
mercy  of  God.  Begin  at  that  point  and  read  the  history  in  that 
light,  and  you  will  see  the  right  proportion  of  things  and  their 
right  colour,  and  you  will  hear  their  sweetest  and  richest  music. 
Again  and  again,  therefore,  would  I  repeat,  the  master-word  of  this 
divine  life  is  the  sweet  and  all-inclusive  word — Compassion. 

Observe  what  the  word  means.  It  means  ' '  feeling  with, ' ' 
"  ieeling/br,"  sympathy,  a  right  view  of  human  want  and  human 
distress,  and  a  taking  upon  oneself  all  the  pain,  th-e  feebleness, 
the  poverty,  and  the  anguish  of  those  who  suffer  most.  He  bare 
our  sins,  he  carried  our  iniquities,  and  himself  took  our  infirmi- 
ties and  sustained  our  afflictions.  You  have  been  reading  the  life 
of  Christ  as  if  he  were  one  of  twenty  men,  leaders  of  human 
thought ;  we  have  lectured  upon  him  as  if  he  belonged  to  a  gal- 
lery of  heroes.  Therein  have  we  done  him  injustice,  and  therein, 
too,  have  we  done  ourselves  injustice,  for  we  have  not  viewed  the 
great  occasion  from  the  right  standpoint  ;  therefore  have  we  missed 
its  majesty,  its  perspective,  its  subtlest  relations,  and  its  deepest 
significances.  He  is  not  one  of  many,  he  is  many  in  one. 
Therein  is  that  singular  utterance  most  true — he  is  All  in  All — 
multitudinous  Man,  as  great  a  host  as  the  throng  on  which  he 
looked  ;  they  were  detailed  humanity,  he  was  our  totalised  nature. 
He  felt  every  pang,  he  responded  to  every  emotion.  He  is  not  a 
priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities, 


MATTHEW  IX.   36-38.  133 

he  knows  us  through  and  through,  and  he  is  every  one  of  us, 
because  he  is  the  Son  of  Man. 

"When  he  saw  the  multitudes."  Let  us  lay  the  emphasis 
upon  the  last  word  for  a  moment,  for  it  will  enable  us  to  seize  a 
new  meaning  and  occupy  a  novel  standpoint.  When  he  saw  the 
multitudes  he  was  moved  with  compassion  ;  when  we  see  the 
multitudes  we  are  moved  with  wonder  or  with  admiration.  See  if 
that  be  not  so  in  matter  as  well  as  in  humanity.  When  I  see 
multitudinous  matter,  a  mountain,  I  am  moved  with  surprise,  my 
wonder  arises  ;  I  call  attention  to  the  infinite  mass,  and  we  stand 
before  it  with  wide-open  eyes,  and  the  whole  posture  is  one  of 
amazement.  We  are  v/onderstruck  that  the  rubbish  should  be  so 
infinite,  for  it  is  only  rubbish — the  greatest  mountain  in  Europe  ; 
no  man  of  you  would  care  for  any  spadeful  of  it,  no  man  would 
be  touched  by  any  ten  feet  of  it,  no  man  would  go  fifty  yards  to 
see  twenty  feet  of  it ;  it  is  when  it  multiplies  itself,  foot  on  foot, 
pile  on  pile,  mile  on  mile,  until  it  cools  itself  in  snow,  high  up 
in  the  rarefied  air — then  we  run  excursion  trains  to  look  at  it,  then 
we  build  villas  near  it  and  gaze  on  it  with  admiration,  then  we 
write  about  it  in  the  public  journals  ;  it  acquires  fame  by  its  vast- 
ness,  not  by  intrinsic  and  detailed  value,  but  by  hugeness,  by  what 
we  should  term,  in  relation  to  human  throngs,  multitudinousness. 

Now  when  Jesus  saw  the  multitudes  he  was  not  moved  with 
wonder,  which  is  a  partial  emotion,  or  with  admiration,  which  is 
an  incomplete  and  babyish  feeling.  He  was  moved  with  compas- 
sion, and  therein  He  differed  from  every  other  observer  of  great 
things.  We  know  what  it  is  to  look  at  great  things  ourselves.  If 
you  see  one  soldier,  you  care  but  little  for  the  sight ;  you  may 
point  out  the  intensity  of  the  colour  which  he  displays,  or  the  splen- 
dour of  his  metal,  but  one  passing  remark  will  suffice  for  that  oc- 
casion. You  see  an  army,  and  you  are  filled  with  wonder,  admi- 
ration, delight ;  it  brings  to  you  a  sense  of  power,  grandeur,  and 
grandeuf  never  touches  compassion,  it  seems  rather  to  rebuke  it. 
If  I  see  a  mighty  throng  of  men,  the  very  last  feeling  that  would 
come  into  my  heart  as  an  observer  would  be  a  feeling  of  compas- 
sion. Multitudinousness  means  power,  multitudinousness  means 
greatness,  resource,  all  kinds  of  energy,  amplitude  of  strength. 
Who  dare  pity  a  multitude  ?  It  could  overpower  you,  run  you 
down,   trample  you  to  death  —why  pity  it .?     Pity  yourself,   little 


124  INCOMPLETE  SOCIAL   VIEWS. 

creature,  run  away  from  the  ever-multiplying  throng  that  marches 
with  the  strength  of  an  army  and  with  the  pomp  of  a  nation. 

Yet  here  is  a  man  who  looks  upon  a  multitude  and  his  heart  is 
filled  with  pity.  He  did  not  say,  "  How  great,  what  force,  what 
wondrous  resources  of  genius,  and  strength,  and  money,  and 
power  of  every  degree  !"  His  heart  filled  with  tears  ;  he  said, 
"  It  is  a  sad  sight."  If  he  could  have  taken  any  other  view  of  the 
multitude  he  never  would  have  been  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
There  you  see  the  meaning  of  his  life  :  it  touches  you  now. 
This  must  end  in  fainting  or  in  sacrifice,  must  terminate  in 
shrinking  from  the  infinite  task,  or  in  heroic  conquest  in  the  in- 
finite tragedy. 

Those  tears  have  great  meaning,  those  larger  emotions  than  any 
we  have  yet  seen  have  a  remote  and  infinite  significance.  If  he 
had  been  touched  with  wonder  only  he  would  have  failed,  if  he 
had  been  moved  with  admiration  he  would  have  lost  his  power  ; 
but,  moved  with  compassion,  he  includes  every  other  worthy  emo- 
tion, and  sets  himself  in  a  right  relation  to  his  task.  Nothing  but 
compassmi  will  carry  you  through  any  tragedy  in  life  ;  you  cannot 
go  through  it  merely  for  its  own  sake.  The  hireling  will  fall 
asleep  over  the  sick  child,  but  the  mother  will  drive  sleep  away 
from  her  dwelling-place  till  she  has  rescued  her  little  one  from  the 
power  of  the  enemy,  if  it  be  within  the  scope  of  her  endurance  and 
skill  to  win  so  great  a  triumph.  Her  compassion  keeps  her 
awake,  her  love  makes  the  night  as  the  day,  her  pity  stops  the 
clock,  so  that  she  takes  no  note  of  time.  Every  other  emotion 
grows  dumb  ;  wonder  must  sometimes  close  its  eyes,  admiration 
falls  upon  itself,  sates  its  appetite  and  dies  of  the  satiety,  but  com- 
passion grows  by  what  it  feeds  on,  and  is  of  the  very  nature  of  the 
love  of  God.  He  grows  in  the  development  of  his  compassion  ; 
he  will  succeed  yet.  Beaten  back  at  a  hundred  points,  he  will 
yet  win.  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  which  is  really 
but  another  word  for  compassion,  and  shall  be  satisfied. 

It  does  us  good  to  come  into  contact  with  a  teacher  who  sees 
the  whole  of  his  case.  We  are  cursed  by  partial  views.  We  elect 
twelve  men  to  judge  a  case  that  we  may  bring  twelve  differeni^ 
minds  to  bear  upon  it  and  a  twelvefold  power  to  grasp  it  fully. 
We  have  to  multiply  ourselves  when  we  would  be  great ;  Jesus 
Christ  always  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning,  the  entire  situation, 


MATTHEW  IX.   36-38.  125 


took  the  comprehensive  view,  excluded  no  aspect  of  the  case  with 
which  he  had  to  heal.  As  judges,  we  are  ruined  by  our  partial 
cleverness  ;  if  we  could  see  more  we  should  feel  more  and  do 
more. 

Take  a  view  of  a  Christian  congregation.  What  lovelier  sight 
can  the  earth  present .?  Many  men,  women,  children,  gathered 
together  in  one  house  sanctified  to  the  highest  uses,  sweet  hymn, 
noble  psalm,  penetrating,  triumphant  anthem,  rich  and  pathetic 
prayer,  reading  of  the  divine  word,  exposition  of  the  holy  myste- 
ries, exhortation,  explanation  poured  from  a  loving  heart  and  from 
an  eloquent  tongue,  the  spirit  of  peace  in  the  house — what  nobler 
sight  is  there  upon  the  earth  .?  I  look  upon  it,  and  say,  "  All  is 
well  ;  the  old  earth  is  renewing  its  youth,  and  all  is  bright  in  pros- 
pect." Am  I  right .?  I  am  as  far  wrong  as  I  can  well  be  within 
such  limits  ;  I  am  deceived  by  appearances.  I  may  be  right  as  to 
the  mere  literal  facts  of  the  occasion,  within  the  four  walls  of  any 
Christian  building  ;  I  have  only  to  look  outside  the  window,  and 
I  see  that  in  this  great  metropolis  to-day  the  majority  of  men  are 
not  in  the  house  of  God,  nor  do  they  care  for  its  worship  and  ser- 
vice. You  have  only  to  go  off  the  broad  thoroughfare,  and  look 
down  certain  passages  and  openings  on  the  side  ways,  to  see  fester- 
ing humanity,  children  that  were  never  taught  to  clasp  their  little 
hands  in  prayer,  houses  in  which  there  is  no  word  of  God,  men 
imbruted,  women  stripped  of  their  divinity,  and  the  whole  human 
name  befouled,  cursed,  degraded  into  what  is  practically  perdi- 
tion. Jesus  Christ  would  not  take  the  view  presented  by  any 
Christian  congregation  only,  he  would  see  the  congregation  within 
and  the  multitude  without ;  he  would  take  in  the  whole  situation, 
and  seeing  it,  his  tears  would  drop  from  our  hymns,  and  great 
heart-breaking  agony  would  mingle  with  our  broadest  and  most 
hopeful  prayers. 

There  are  men  who  take  partial  views  and  come  to  partial  and, 
therefore,  erroneous  conclusions  about  everything.  There  are 
those  who  seat  themselves  within  some  vernal  enclosure  or  sum- 
mer paradise,  and  say,  with  a  foolish  chuckle,  that  the  earth  is  not 
so  bad  a  place  after  all.  They  see  a  bed  of  blooming  flowers, 
fiery-hued  or  gentle- tinted,  and  they  hear  birds  in  the  branches 
twittering,  trilling,  singing,  and  making  melody  in  their  hearts, 
and  they  say  the  earth  is  a  very  lovely  place,  notwithstanding  all 


126        THE  SHEPHERDL  V  ELEMENT  IN  CHRIST. 

the  croakers  say  to  the  contrary.  Now  observe  how  they  con- 
found the  partial  term  with  the  larger  word.  They  see  a  garden 
and  then  speak  of  the  earth,  they  see  a  bed  of  geraniums  and  then 
speak  of  the  globe  ;  there  is  no  balance  in  their  sentences,  their 
words  do  not  correspond  with  one  another  at  both  ends  of  their 
declarations.  The  garden  is  beautiful,  the  flowers  are  "tovely 
beyond  all  that  it  is  possible  for  the  colouring  of  human  heart  fully 
to  represent.  The  painter  paints  theyirw?,  but  he  cannot  touch 
iht  fragrance.  We  admire  their  poetical  sympathy  within  given 
limits,  but  go  beyond  the  garden  wall,  go  into  the  rough  streets, 
go  into  the  desolate  places,  take  in  the  wilderness,  throw  the  line 
around  the  entirety,  bring  the  whole  elements  within  your  pur- 
view, and  then  say  what  it  is.  The  angel  sees  it,  and  says, 
' '  Mourning  and  lamentation  and  woe. ' '  Jesus  sees  it  and  can- 
not cease  his  prayer,  Jesus  looks  upon  it  and  is  moved  with  com- 
passion. Do  not  shut  yourselves  within  your  churches  and  say, 
"  All  is  well  ;"  do  not  shut  the  garden  door  and  rejoice  upon  the 
verdant  lawn  and  under  the  drooping  tree,  and  say,  "  This  is  para- 
dise regained. ' '  See  every  point  of  beauty,  be  thankful  for  every 
mercy  given  to  you  of  the  divine  providence,  but  always  en- 
deavour to  take  in  not  a  roof  but  a  sky,  not  a  circumference  drawn 
by  human  compasses,  but  a  horizon  that  required  the  sweep  of  the 
divine  arm  to  form  it,  and  when  you  see  the  entire  scene  you  will 
be  moved  with  compassion. 

"  But  when  he  saw  the  multitudes  he  was  moved  with  compas- 
sion because  they  fainted" — literally  because  they  were  vexed,  and 
disturbed,  and  fretted,  and  chafed — as  sheep  when  the  wolf  comes 
into  the  fold.  They  hear  his  panting,  they  see  his  eye  of  fire  and 
his  pitiless  teeth,  and  they  hear  him  as  he  prowls  and  snuffs  and 
throbs  in  his  cruel  desire  and  design.  Jesus  not  only  saw  the 
sheep,  he  saw  the  wolf;  he  not  only  sees  humanity,  he  sees  the 
devil  and  his  angels,  he  sees  how  we  are  vexed,  fretted,  torn,  dis- 
turbed, frightened  by  ten  thousand  black  spirits  that  darken  the 
day,  and  through  whose  black  wings  the  hot  sun  can  scarcely  dart 
one  living  beam.  He  sees  men,  devils,  angels,  earth,  heaven, 
and  whilst  the  whole  thing  sums  itself  up  before  his  comprehen- 
sive and  penetrating  vision  his  eyes  darken  with  tears. 

He  noted  that  the  people  were  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd. 


-      MATTHEW  IX.   36-38.  127 

This  figure  of  shepherdliness  is  most  beautiful.  He  himself  had 
the  shepherdly  heart.  He  is  called  the  Good  Shepherd  :  he 
knows  his  sheep,  and  many  sheep  he  has  that  are  not  of  this  fold. 
He  lays  down  his  life  for  the  sheep.  The  hireling  fleeth  because 
he  is  a  hireling  and  careth  not  for  the  sheep.  All  these  figures  by 
which  Jesus  represents  himself  are  figures  of  tenderness,  sympathy, 
sometimes  of  weakness,  by  way  of  accommodation,  to  our  human 
infirmities.  He  could  blow  the  trumpet  of  thunder,  and  stand 
upon  the  platform  of  the  wind  and  roar  with  the  tempest  blowing 
from  every  point  of  the  compass  in  one  fierce  blast  ;  but  he  sees 
that  would  overpower  and  affright  them,  so  he  speaks  in  a  still 
small  voice,  thunder  reduced  to  a  whisper,  and  therefore  not  an 
utterance  of  feebleness,  but  a  sigh  of  suppressed  and  condensed 
power.  He  is  the  gentle  Shepherd,  the  good  Shepherd.  He 
made  himself  of  no  reputation,  he  took  up  our  forms  of  endear- 
ment and  service  and  our  whole  nomenclature  of  fellowship,  sym- 
pathy, and  love,  and  he  made  his  tabernacle  in  our  little  words, 
giving  them  infinite  enlargement  according  to  his  own  purpose  and 
motive.  Observe  how  he  comes  from  the  multitude  to  the  shep- 
herd, from  the  many  to  the  one.  It  is  possible  to  have  one  man 
who  can  rule  and  guide  and  bless  a  countless  host.  I  am  longing 
for  that  one  Man  ;  I  would  speak  with  him  a  long  while.  He 
would  be  my  preacher,  my  teacher  ;  he  would  understand  me 
wholly,  and  would  speak  to  me  in  great  breadths  of  knowledge 
and  sympathy,  and  if  I  had  any  bitter  shameful  tale  to  tell,  I 
could  tell  him  every  word  of  it,  and  he  would  answer  me  in  gos- 
pels and  not  in  condemnation.  Any  wolf  can  bite,  any  bigot  can 
judge  and  condemn,  any  little  detestable  Pharisee  can  sit  upon  the 
judgment-seat  and  pronounce  upon  men  whose  shoe-latchet  he  is 
not  worthy  to  unloose.  It  takes  the  great  Christ  and  the  Christly 
heart  to  judge  with  large  judgment.  Show  me  a  man  that  can 
take  in  the  large  view,  who  knows  all  the  languages  of  the  heart, 
all  the  emotions  of  the  wondrous  human  spirit,  and  he  shall  teach 
me  and  shepherd  me,  and  I  will  fall  asleep  upon  his  breast ;  I  will 
ask  no  better  environment  on  earth  than  his  strong  and  tender 
arm.  Save  me  from  the  bigot,  the  literalist,  the  sectarian,  the 
mean  soul,  and  if  ye  know  where  the  shepherd  is  show  me  his 
dwelling-place,  and  he  will  make  my  heart  bright  and  young  with 
a  new  hope. 


128  THE  COMPLETE  VIEW. 

"  Then  saith  he  to  his  disciples,  the  harvest  truly  is  plenteous, 
the  labourers  are  few. ' '  The  figure  changes.  He  has  been  speak- 
ing about  a  shepherd,  and  now  he  speaks  about  labourers.  He  has 
been  speaking  about  a  fold  of  sheep,  and  now  he  speaks  about  a 
harvest-field,  and  he  speaks  about  both  in  the  same  breath.  We 
are  punctilious  about  the  consistency  of  our  figures  ;  we  dare  not 
risk  our  reputation  by  the  use  of  a  mixed  metaphor  ;  no  man  dare 
utter  these  words  as  if  they  were  his  own.  He  would  be  heard  of 
again,  he  would  be  laughed  at  by  the  last  boy  that  left  the  school, 
he  would  be  left  by  men  who  may  have  their  weaknesses  if  you 
could  only  find  them,  but  who  could  never  by  any  possibility  per- 
petrate the  unutterable  crime  of  uttering  a  mixed  metaphor. 

Both  the  figures  are  right  :  never  mind  about  their  juxtaposi- 
tion. The  world  is  a  great  sheepfold  and  a  great  harvest-field  :  it 
is  both  ;  it  wants  shepherds,  wants  labourers,  wants  compassion, 
wants  attention.  This  is  the  great  view  of  the  great  Christ ;  he  saw 
the  whole  occasion,  and  saw  the  figures  that  were  appropriate  to  it 
So  we  can  come  into  the  text  when  we  please.  If  Jesus  Christ 
had  compassion  on  us,  ought  we  not  to  have  compassion  on  our- 
selves ?  Is  it  a  time  for  us  to  be  flattering  our  heart  and  saying 
"It  is  all  right"  when  Jesus  Christ  is  crying  great,  bitter,  hot 
tears  ?  If  he  is  uneasy  for  us,  even  to  the  point  of  agony,  is  it  a 
time  for  us  to  be  lying  on  a  soft  couch  and  to  be  saying  ' '  All  is 
well  "  ?  I  would  rather  take  this  view  of  my  life  than  I  would 
take  my  own. 

And  then,  again,  some  of  us  are  fit  for  bringing  into  the 
garner.  I  have  come  to  seek  you  to-day  as  one  of  the  labourers 
of  God.  You  must  not  stand  out  there  too  long.  Already  you 
are  golden,  mellow,  ripened  corn,  and  we  now  want  to  take  you 
into  the  garner — will  you  come  ?  This  is  a  harvest  that  cannot  be 
cut  down  against  its  own  will,  and  garnered  against  its  own  con- 
sent. It  is  a  great  mystery,  and  the  mystery  is  larger  than  the 
figure,  the  figure  only  helping  us  to  a  very  partial  treatment  of  the 
mystery.  You  are  fifty  years  of  age,  and  you  have  been  out  long 
enough  ;  you  are  seventy  years  of  age,  and  we  want  to  bring  you 
into  the  garner  this  very  morning.  You  have  ripened  and 
ripened  ;  there  is  a  point  after  which  you  will  rot  and  rot.  With 
all  the  love  of  my  heart — no  love  at  all  compared  with  the  love  of 


MATTHEW  IX.   36-38.  129 

Christ — I  would  ask  those  of  you  who  are  yet  outside  the  fold  to 
hear  the  shepherd's  voice  bidding  you  come  in,  and  ask  those  of 
you  who  are  as  mellow  corn  bowing  your  heads  under  the  blessing 
of  the  summer  breeze,  or  the  autumnal  wind,  to  allow  yourselves 
to  be  garnered  in  the  church  and  heart  of  God. 


XLII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  all  things  are  in  thine  hand  :  thou  openest  thine  hand 
and  satisfiest  the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  We  all  gather  around  the 
table  of  the  Lord,  and  that  which  ihou  dost  give  us  we  do  gather,  and 
nothing  else.  We  live  and  move  and  have  our  being  in  thee,  yea,  when 
we  sin,  we  turn  against  thee  the  souls  thou  didst  create,  and  the  energy 
thou  dost  continually  inspire.  Our  blasphemy  could  not  have  been  but 
for  the  power  which  thou  hast  given  unto  us.  We  are  fearfully  and  won- 
derfully made  :  we  bless  thy  name  in  one  breath,  and  blaspheme  thy 
providence  in  another.  To-day  we  stand  on  the  mountain  top  where  the 
sunshine  is  cloudless  and  we  are  all  but  angels  :  to-morrow  we  are  in  the 
dark  pit  and  our  voice  is  loudest  of  all  those  that  are  lifted  up  against 
thee. 

We  come  now  with  a  psalm  of  adoration  and  a  song  of  praise.  Thy 
mercy  has  been  tender,  and  thy  kindness  has  been  loving.  Thou  hast 
added  one  mercy  to  another,  one  kindness  and  love  to  another,  until  our 
whole  life  is  filled  with  the  tokens  of  thy  providence  and  thy  care,  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  room  left  for  any  other  sign  of  thy  love.  And  yet 
thou  wilt  find  the  room  because  thou  hast  found  the  love.  Greater  things 
than  these  shall  we  see,  broader  revelations  than  have  yet  gladdened  our 
heavens  shall  flame  upon  us,  and  we  shall  be  struck  by  their  infinite 
lustre, and  constrained  to  praise  by  all  their  beauteous  light.  Guide  us 
into  all  truth,  establish  us  in  faith  and  in  love,  give  unto  us  that  divine 
and  holy  charity  which  sees  further  than  genius  can  penetrate. 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God.  We  humbly 
pray  thee  in  the  name  of  the  one  Priest  and  Mediator  work  in  us  that 
pureness  of  heart  which  can  read  thy  word  with  intelligence  and  see  thy 
going  in  our  life  and  amongst  the  nations,  and  hear  thee  in  all  the  blessed 
movements  of  thy  providence.  Thou  hast  done  wonderful  things  for  lis. 
Our  gray  hairs  shall  be  venerable  witnesses  in  the  court,  testifying  to  thy 
daily  love  and  thy  surprising  power  and  grace,  and  our  young  voices 
shall  lift  themselves  up  in  sweet  melody  to  sav  that  the  Lord  is  good  and 
the  touch  of  his  hand  is  a  daily  blessing.  Yea,  all  men  and  women,  the 
old  and  the  young,  and  the  sick  and  the  strong,  the  busy  and  those  who 
spend  their  lives  in  leisurely  contemplation  and  wonder,  shall  conspire  to 
bless  thee  in  one  testimony  and  in  one  undivided  witness.  Thou  hast 
been  with  us  in  out  going  out  and  in  our  coming  in,  in  our  downsitting 


PRA  YER.  131 

and  in  our  uprising,  on  the  water  and  on  the  land,  in  the  long  night  and 
in  the  bright  day,  on  the  hill  and  in  the  valley — thou  hast  never  forsaken 
us,  though  we  have  often  caught  our  hearts  in  the  act  of  base  truancy,  for 
we  have  drawn  from  God  and  sought  a  shadow  in  which  he  dwelt  not. 
The  Lord  hear  us  when  we  cry  for  mercy  and  plead  for  pardon,  and  hear 
in  our  voice  the  intercession  of  his  Son,  in  our  desire  the  beating  of 
Christ's  own  heart,  and  behold  our  poor  prayers  lifted  up  and  ennobled 
and  made  prevalent  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  alone. 

Thou  knowest  what  we  want  and  what  we  need  and  what  is  best  for 
us.  The  Lord  have  us  day  by  day  in  his  own  hand,  the  Lord  open  the 
right  door,  show  the  right  road,  and  put  around  our  soul  a  defence  of  firfr 
that  shall  burn  the  encroaching  foe.  The  Lord's  Word  dwell  in  us  with 
such  infinite  richness  that  we  shall  have  an  answer  to  every  enemy  and  a 
solace  under  every  stroke.  Thou  hast  shown  some  of  thy  servants  great 
and  sore  trouble,  thou  hast  bruised  their  little  power,  and  shaken  down 
their  ambitions  to  the  dust,  yea  thou  hast  set  thy  foot  upon  them  as  if  in 
scorn  and  condemnation.  Yet  there  shall  be  a  lifting  up  for  such,  for 
their  souls  be  strong  in  the  love  of  truth.  Come,  thou  who  hast  the  key 
of  night,  and  canst  open  the  darkness  and  shed  light  upon  those  who 
have  sat  long  in  trouble  and  in  shadow.  Thou  hast  given  unto  others 
great  prosperity,  so  that  one  day  is  brighter  than  another  and  every  suc- 
ceeding week  has  added  to  the  greatness  of  their  store.  Dost  thou  in» 
tend  to  curse  them  with  prosperity  and  to  fatten  them  as  oxen  for  the 
slaughter  ?  Teach  them  that  thou  givest  them  power  to  get  wealth,  and 
may  their  prosperity  be  consecrated  to  them  and  be  so  much  added 
strength  to  the  resources  of  thy  kingdom  upon  the  earth. 

The  Lord  bless  the  little  children  amongst  us  :  give  them  length  of 
days  and  great  delight  in  the  land,  quick  eyes  to  see  all  the  beauty  and 
quick  ears  to  hear  all  the  music,  and  the  sensitiveness  of  heart  which 
shrinks  from  sin.  The  Lord  sanctify  our  business  and  make  it  prosper- 
ous a  thousandfold,  if  it  be  for  our  soul's  health,  or  sweep  it  utterly  away 
if  poverty  be  the  right  road  to  heaven. 

Comfort  all  that  mourn,  visit  the  sick  in  their  solitude  and  pain,  abolish 
death,  overthrow  the  ancient  visitor  and  drive  him  from  his  stronghold, 
and  enable  thy  dying  saints  to  say,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?" 

We  bless  thee  for  all  general  mercies,  mercies  in  business  and  in  the 
nation  and  in  the  world  at  large  ;  for  the  good  tidings  of  the  harvest  we 
thank  thee— grant  that  the  harvest  may  be  well  gathered  in  and  stored  for 
the  good  of  the  land.  God  save  the  Queen,  multiply  her  days  manifold, 
and  give  her  joy  in  every  added  year.  Direct  our  leaders,  teach  our 
magistrates,  guides,  and  leaders  of  all  kinds,  grant  power  to  goodness 
and  break  the  arm  of  evil,  and  suddenly  come  to  thy  temple,  thou  Son  oi 
God.     Amen. 


132  CHRIST'S  INFINITE  STATESMANSHIP. 

Matthew  x.  1-4. 

1.  And  when  he  had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he  gave  them 
power  against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all  manner  of 
sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease. 

2.  Now  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  are  these  ;  The  first  (not  in 
official  primacy)  Simon,  who  is  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother  (who 
with  John  had  been  a  disciple  of  the  Baptist),  James  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
and  John  his  brother  ; 

3.  Philip,  and  Bartholomew  (generally  supposed  to  be  the  same  with 
Nathanael  of  Cana  in  Galilee),  Thomas,  and  Matthew  the  publican  ;  James 
the  son  of  Alphaeus  and  Lebbaeus,  whose  surname  was  Thaddseus  ; 

4.  Simon  the  Canaanite  (called  Zelotes  from  having  before  his  conver- 
sion belonged  to  a  sect  which  eventually  brought  upon  Jerusalem  its  de- 
struction), and  Judas  Iscariot,  who  also  betrayed  him. 

THE  MISSIONARY  CHARGE. 

ALIGHT  will  be  thrown  upon  the  first  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter 
by  recalling  the  last  verse  of  the  ninth.  "  Pray  ye,  there- 
fore, the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  labourers 
into  his  harvest."  Is  this  sentimental.?  Does  the  Lord  call 
men  only  to  prayer,  or  has  he  some  ulterior  purpose  .?  Does  he  en- 
courage them  by  first  asking  them  to  pray,  and  then  when  they 
have  prayed  themselves  into  white  heat  of  soul,  does  he  name  the 
practical  purpose  which  he  had  in  view  at  the  beginning .?  Who 
could  bear  to  hear  all  his  destiny  at  once  ?  Who  would  like  to 
have  his  destiny  thrust  upon  him  with  abruptness  and  suddenness, 
like  the  shock  of  an  unexpected  thunder-storm  }  Who  would  not 
rather  be  gently  and  gradually  prepared  .?  This  is  the  infinite 
statesmanship  of  Christ.  He  tells  the  disciples  io  pray  for  labour- 
ers. A  lame  remedy,  say  you,  for  the  tremendous  disease.  Wait 
awhile  :  when  they  have  prayed  well  they  shall  work  well.  When 
they  have  prayed  for  labourers  it  shall  be  revealed  to  them  that 
they  themselves  are  the  labourers  !  Revelations  come  to  men  in 
prayer  ;  whilst  they  are  praying  about  others,  God  suddenly  sa}s, 
"  Vou  are  the  men — GO."  That  is  the  solution  of  ten  thousand 
Church  difficulties.  A  rich  man  I  have  heard  pray  that  God 
would  be  gracious  to  the  poor,  and  when  he  was  done  I  have  said, 
"Answer  your  own  prayer,"  So  a  man  shall  pray  that  the 
Church  be  revived,  and  God  says,  "  Begin  in  your  own  heart." 


MATTHEW  X.    1-4.  133 


Others,  again,  are  praying  night  and  day  that  God  would  send 
forth  labourers  into  his  harvest,  not  knowing  that  God's  plan  is 
that  when  a  man  can  pray  most  that  labourers  may  be  sent,  he 
himself  should  herald  the  way  and  be  the  evangelist  of  heaven. 

If  this  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  us  in  all  the  compass  of 
its  meaning  and  in  all  the  force  of  its  moral  purpose,  we  should 
have  preachers  enough,  and  great  ones  and  astounding  ones,  and 
the  question  would  run  from  camp  to  camp,  ' '  Is  Saul  also  among 
the  prophets  ?' '  Think  of  wise  men,  men  of  great  capacity  and 
considerable  education,  meeting  together  in  solemn  committee  for 
the  purpose  of  inquiring  whether  they  cannot  engage  a  number  of 
all  but  incapable  persons  at  eighty  pounds  a  year  !  I  would  that 
some  stern,  strong  man  could  break  in  upon  their  ungodly  seclu- 
sion, and  tell  them  to  rise  and  go  themselves  and  preach  this  king- 
dom. 

Wondrous  is  the  wisdom  of  this  carpenter's  son.  First,  he  is 
touched  with  compassion  when  he  sees  the  multitudes  ;  then  he 
calls  the  attention  of  his  disciples  to  the  destitute  condition  of  the 
innumerable  throngs  ;  then  he  says,  "  The  harvest  truly  is  plen- 
teous, but  the  labourers  are  few."  He  is  now  in  his  pathetic 
mood  ;  his  tones  have  a  strange  melting  power  in  them  ;  he  adds, 
as  he  only  could  add,  ' '  Pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  har- 
vest, that  he  will  send  forth  labourers  into  his  harvest ;' '  and  the 
men  prayed,  and  as  they  prayed  their  faces  shone,  and  strange  im- 
pulses moved  their  strength  ;  and  when  they  had  marked  the  cul- 
mination of  their  prayers,  he  called  them  to  him  and  said,  "  Go 
ye. ' '  He  bids  us  add  the  ' '  Amen' '  to  our  own  prayers,  he  bids 
us  carry  out  our  own  purposes  ;  when  we  have  wrestled  long  and 
strongly  at  heaven's  gate,  he  says,  "  Now  you  are  ready  ;  there  is 
fire  enough  in  you  ;  go  ye  and  tell  all  that  I  have  told  you  ;  freely 
ye  have  received,  freely  give."  Thus  light  is  cast  upon  the  first 
verse  of  the  tenth  chapter  by  recalling  the  pathetic  conclusion  of 
the  preceding  chapter. 

' '  When  he  had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples. ' '  He  was 
always  calling  these  men.  At  first  he  called  them  and  said  to 
each,  "  Follow  me."  And  then  he  called  his  twelve  disciples 
again,  and  again  he  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples — always 
calling,  always  creating,  always  shaping  our  manhood  to  new  and 
noble  uses,  always  enlarging  the  definition  of  our  sphere  and  en- 


134  '    GIVING  POWER   TO  MAN. 

nobling  the  destiny  of  our  powers.  The  call  of  Christ  is  not  once 
for  all.  It  is  a  daily  interview  ;  the  invitation  to  go  nearer  to  him 
comes  with  every  sunrise.  We  have  never  been  so  near  to  Jesus 
Christ  that  we  cannot  be  nearer,  and  the  nearer  we  get  the  softer  is 
his  voice.  When  we  were  away,  far  out  on  the  barren  sands,  he 
called  unto  us  as  with  the  blast  of  a  trumpet ;  then  we  became 
more  familiar  with  him,  got  nearer  and  nearer  to  his  heart,  and 
he  called  us  to  come  nearer  still,  and  the  nearer  we  got  the  less 
occasion  was  there  for  any  vocal  force  on  his  part,  till  now  he 
whispers  his  commands  ;  he  breathes  upon  us  with  infinitely  sub- 
dued tenderness  his  will  and  purpose — so  lowly,  so  sweetly,  he 
seems  almost  to  be  consulting  us.  The  great  royal  voice  that 
was  strong  as  a  command  is  still  the  same,  though  it  has  dropped 
into  a  lower  key,  and  gives  us  the  impression  that  we  are  being 
consulted !  Strange  if  such  a  leader,  with  such  a  human  ancestry, 
be  but  a  creature  of  the  dust  ! 

What  does  he  do  when  they  come  nearer  to  him  ?  He  gives 
them  power.  Can  any  man  amend  that  arrangement .''  Call 
twelve  men  to  duty,  and  you  may  but  mock  their  weakness  and 
throw  them  back  upon  the  humiliating  consciousness  of  their  in- 
efficiency ;  but  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  called  the  twelve  disciples 
to  him,  gave  them  power.  Strange  let  me  sxy  over  and  over 
again,  until  the  refrain  itself  becomes  a  kind  of  argument,  that  he 
who  was  only  a  peasant  and  a  peasant's  son  should  have  had  this 
compass  of  mind  and  this  marvellous  sweep  of  statesmanlike  power 
of  getting  men  together,  organizing  them,  constituting  them,  in- 
vesting them,  and  giving  to  them,  as  in  great  handfuls,  the  omnip- 
otence of  God  1 

Not  only  does  he  give  the  disciples  power,  he  gives  them  conso- 
lation. This  adds  a  new  and  beauteous  feature  to  the  whole  ar- 
rangement. We  sometimes  say,  not  knowing  what  we  are  saying, 
that  if  we  have  a  duty  to  perform  the  only  thing  we  v  ant  is  power 
to  do  it.  That  is  a  narrow  and  foolish  view  Power  may  be 
bruised,  wounded,  baffled,  disappointed  :  sheer,  hard,  iron 
strength  is  not  enough  ;  we  need  encouragement,  consolation  ; 
we  need  such  reminders  of  human  history  as  shall  embolden  us  to 
keep  our  spirits  up,  though  the  wind  be  high  and  cold,  and  all 
things  seem  to  be  set  in  daily  antagonism  against  us.     It  is  pooi 


MATTHEW  X.    1-4.  135 

living  when  we  are  reduced  to  the  dry  consciousness  of  our  mere 
power.  When  a  man  can  say,  "  I  have  power  to  do  this,"  and 
works  according  to  his  strength,  he  is  tempted  into  a  tone  of  self- 
sufficiency,  and  it  may  be  occasionally  a  tone  of  social  defiance. 
But  when  he  knows  that  he  not  only  has  the  power  to  do  his  duty, 
but  that  when  he  comes  back  to  his  Lord  and  Master,  bruised  and 
wounded  and  quite  tired,  he  will  be  taken  up  into  the  Almighty 
heart  and  cheered,  and  nourished,  and  encouraged,  and  blest  with 
the  whole  baptism  of  omnipotence  ;  then  the  tone  of  defiance  is 
taken  out  of  his  voice,  and  he  goes  out — if  the  figure  be  that  of  a 
bird,  with  duty  as  its  body,  power  and  encouragement  as  the  wings 
with  which  it  flies. 

' '  He  gave  them  power. ' '  There  are  flood  times  in  the  progress 
of  the  mind  ;  times  when  men  are  transported  beside  and  beyond 
themselves  ;  seasons  when  we  feel  equal  to  the  whole  occasion  of 
life ;  periods  when  we  are  conscious  of  such  an  accession  of 
strength  as  makes  work  a  pleasure  and  danger  an  inspiration. 
We  are  all  conscious  of  such  times  in  our  life.  We  say,  "  Would 
that  these  hours  would  continue,  and  we  should  break  the  moun- 
tains in  pieces  with  a  threshing  instrument  of  iron  having  teeth, 
and  should  scatter  the  broken  dust  upon  the  mocking  wind." 
Grand  hours  these  of  inauguration  and  coronation,  almost  of 
apotheosis.  We  are  lifted  up  into  our  deific  state,  and  we  set  our 
feet  upon  all  lower  things  and  triumph  over  them  with  power  not 
to  be  measured  by  human  terms.  Then  we  vehemently  desi'"''. 
the  battle,  and  are  impatient  because  the  trumpet  blast  that  calls 
us  to  it  is  long  delayed. 

Sometimes  God  seems  to  dwell  in  us  as  in  a  tabernacle,  which 
he  has  specially  chosen,  and  hie  light  gleams  out  of  us  to  the  de- 
struction of  all  darkness.  It  is  perhaps  well  that  we  have  not  the 
incessant  consciousness  of  this  power,  for  we  might  then  come  to 
think  it  was  our  own.  The  intermissions  of  such  consciousness 
may  be  as  much  a  blessing  as  is  the  consciousness  itself.  It  does  a 
man  no  harm  to  be  speared  in  the  side  and  to  have  blood  and 
water  let  out,  or  to  have  the  thorn-points  crushed  into  his  temples 
until  the  blood  starts  and  his  life  becomes  a  great  agony.  These 
things  have  deep  meanings  ;  their  significance  is  not  in  the  little 
letter  ;  these  are  not  little  rills  that  run  upon  the  surface — they  are 


136  MYSTERY  OF  ORIGINALITY. 

waters  that  come  up  from  the  hidden  rocks.  Our  weakness  has 
its  lesson  as  well  as  our  strength — yea,  sometimes  we  can  say, 
"  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 

"  He  gave  them  power."  Yet  he  did  not  weaken  himself. 
This  is  the  test  of  original  strength.  If  we  have  only  the  oil  we 
have  bought  we  may  run  short  at  an  unlucky  time,  and  the  up- 
shot may  be  that  we  are  barred  out  when  the  bridegroom  comes 
and  constitutes  his  household.  ' '  The  water  that  I  shall  give 
him,"  said  Christ,  "  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  living,  springing 
water,  and  he  shall  not  know  when  the  sun  scorches  up  the 
streams  of  the  earth.  His  shall  be  a  perennial  flow  of  divine 
water.  "  If  you  have  your  sermon  committed  to  your  memory, 
and  are  repeating  it  like  a  parrot,  and  are  afraid  that  you  will  for- 
get the  next  paragraph,  you  are  no  preacher.  If  Christ  has  given 
you  power,  the  word  shall  be  in  you  a  living,  springing  water,  and 
it  shall  flow  forth  for  the  refreshment  and  the  cleansing  of  those 
who  attend  your  ministry.  Take  no  thought  how  or  what  ye 
shall  say.  Christianity  is  not  a  literary  argument,  a  literary  essay, 
or  a  forensic  success  according  to  human  standards  and  canons  ; 
it  is  a  voice  that  surprises  the  speaker  himself  as  much  as  it  ever 
can  surprise  the  hearer,  and  the  accents  are  taught  for  the  moment 
and  for  the  moment's  uses. 

To  give  power  and  yet  to  retain  all  you  give  is  the  mystery  of 
originality.  The  only  natural  suggestions  that  we  have  of  such 
power,  and  they,  of  course,  fall  infinitely  short  of  the  reality,  are 
the  sun  and  the  sea.  The  sun  is  the  same  old  light  that  shone 
upon  Eden  and  warmed  its  flowers  into  colour  and  beauty,  and  to- 
day he  shines,  unshorn  of  a  beam,  always  giving,  never  the  less 
luminous.  And  the  great  sea  takes  into  it  all  the  rain  clouds, 
and  is  not  conscious  of  any  accession  of  water,  and  allows  the 
evaporation  to  go  on  continuously  ;  and  yet  who  can  say  that  the 
sea  has  shrunk  one  hair's  breadth  .?  These  poor  emblems  help  us 
to  understand  what  is  meant  by  the  ever-giving  God,  never  im- 
poverishing himself  by  what  he  bestows.  Ask,  and  it  shall  be 
given  you  ;  bring  with  you  great  petitions  ;  do  not  stint  your 
prayer,  for  the  word  is,  "  Open  thy  mouth  wide,  and  I  will  fill 
it. ' '     Ye  have  not  because  ye  ask  not,  or  because  ye  ask  amiss. 

What  has  become  of  the  Church's  power.?  I  cannot  tell.  It 
is  partially,  almost  wholly,   lost.     The  Church  is  now  prudent, 


MATTHEW  X.    1-4.  137 

self-regarding,  self-admiring,  self-protecting,  trimming  her  edges, 
locking  her  gates,  repairing  her  walls,  talking  much  within  her 
borders.  Where  is  the  old  world-shaking  power?  So  far  gone 
down  that  men  mockingly  say,  "  Presently  there  will  be  no 
Church,  or  there  will  be  a  Church  without  an  altar. "  O  for  a 
lamp  enkindled  by  other  than  human  hands  !  The  harvest 
truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  labourers  are  few  ;  the  opportunities 
were  never  so  broad  and  so  grand  as  they  are  to-day  ;  pray  ye, 
therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  will  send  forth  labourers 
into  his  harvest,  and  whilst  you  are  praying  the  revelation  may 
be  flashed  upon  your  own  mind  that  yon  have  to  conclude  your 
prayer  by  going  forth. 

Observe  the  kind  of  pcwer  that  Jesus  Christ  gave  his  disciples. 
He  gave  them  power  against  unclean  spirits  to  cast  them  out,  and 
to  heal  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease.  It  was, 
then,  a  pffwcr  io  do  good.  When  did  Jesus  Christ  send  forth  any 
man  with  a  rod,  and  with  a  judgment  fire,  and  with  destructive 
force,  concerning  anything  that  had  in  it  the  least  hopefulness  of 
ever  being  rescued  and  saved  .?  The  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to 
destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them  ;  the  bruised  reed  he  will 
not  break,  the  smoking  flax  he  will  not  quench,  the  little  child  he 
will  not  reject,  the  creeping,  crawling  sinner,  that  waits  till  the 
dusk  that  he  may  grope  his  way  in  the  darkness,  shall  not  be 
turned  aside  as  a  coward,  but  shall  be  looked  into  a  new  man.  If 
this  was  Christ's  own  purpose,  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  conse- 
quence that  the  purpose  of  the  Church  must  be  akin  to  it.  It 
was  a  beneficent  power.  Jesus  Christ  gave  his  disciples  power  to 
relieve  human  burdens,  human  distresses,  and  to  heal  all  manner 
of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease.  He  detests  their  presence  ; 
that  there  should  be  disease  in  the  creatures  he  named,  that  his 
machinery  should  have  gone  wrong,  that  the  joints  and  valves 
which  he  fashioned  and  connected  should  have  got  out  of  gear, 
that  any  creature  which  he  made  should  say,  "  My  head,  my 
head,"  or  "  I  am  weak,"  or  "  I  am  in  pain,"  or  "  I  am  in  sor- 
row,"— it  came  not  out  of  the  compass  of  his  counsel  ;  an  enemy 
hath  done  this.  It  is  his  wish  that  we  should  all  be  well,  without 
headache,  or  heartache,  or  broken  joint,  or  poisoned  blood,  or 
reeling  brain  ;  we  should  be  strong,   grand,   massive,   royal,   and 


138  APOSTLES'    NAMES. 

if  we  are  otherwise  an  enemy  hath  done  it,  and  he  must  be  found 
and  slain. 

It  was  power,  too,  that  could  be  easily  appreciated.  Everybody 
could  test  that  kind  of  influence,  and  the  Church  must  betake 
itself  to  this  kind  of  work  more  and  more.  The  Church  should 
be  a  hospital,  the  Church  should  be  a  nursery,  the  Church  should 
be  a  home  of  the  destitute  and  a  shelter  for  those  who  are  cast  out, 
the  Church  should  have  both  hands  filled  with  bread  to  deal  to 
the  hungry  ;  when  the  Church  ceases  her  more  or  less  impotent 
and  inconclusive  speculations,  and  betakes  herself  to  this  benefi- 
cent ministry,  the  world  will  soon  know  that  the  Son  of  God 
has  come  in  deed  and  in  power. 

Yet  the  ability  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  to  the  twelve  men  was 
strictly  limited.  Men  do  not  understand  the  whole  of  their  minis- 
try at  once.  We  grow  into  conceptions  of  our  power  and  our 
duty  ;  we  begin  feebly,  externally,  we  take  upon  ourselves  in  the 
strength  of  divine  grace  to  fulfil  the  very  smallest  occasion,  and 
being  faithful  in  few  things,  we  are  afterwards  made  rulers  of 
many  things.  Having  kept  one  city  well,  we  have  ten  cities 
handed  over  to  our  charge.  Thou  shalt  see  Rome  also  :  thy 
ambition  shall  be  satisfied,  if  thy  work  is  well  done  inch  by  inch, 
and  day  by  day. 

The  twelve  men  were  not  sent  forth  with  any  great  psychological 
purpose,  to  analyse  the  minds  and  souls  of  men  and  hold  high 
discourse  on  things  recondite  and  afar  from  their  daily  thinking. 
They  were  sent  forth  to  do  practical  work,  physical  work,  work 
that  could  be  instantly  appreciated  even  by  the  least  enlightened 
minds.  Let  us  begin  where  we  can  :  if  we  cannot  preach  we  can 
give,  if  we  cannot  give  we  may  be  able  to  instruct,  if  we  cannot 
say  much  it  may  be  given  to  our  hand  to  express,  in  masonry 
unknown  to  other  men,  the  sympathy  of  a  fellow  feeling. 

"  The  twelve  apostles  are  these."  Now  look  at  their  names — 
names  that  do  not  stand  out  in  history  :  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions the  most  of  the  men  named  here  were  obscure.  We  cannot 
all  have  pedestals  ;  we  may  be  apostles  though  we  may  not  be 
famous.  The  whole  twelve  are  named — but  two  or  three  have  any 
fame  that  fills  the  world  ;  the  last  has  an  infamy  that  fills  earth 
and  hell  ;  he  is  always  named  last.     There  are  some  names  we  are 


MATTHEW  X.    1-4,  139 


reluctant  to  breathe,  they  are  only  forced  out  of  us  that  we  may 
make  a  literal  completeness  of  a  statement.  And  they  were  men 
who  had  no  other  power.  Jesus  Christ  does  not  clothe  with  addi- 
tional influence  men  who  have  already  attained  a  certain  height  of 
celebrity  and  power.  It  is  all  his  gift :  they  bring  nothing  to  him, 
he  gives  them  all.  Shall  I  take  my  little  lamp  and  say  to  him, 
' '  Lord,  this  is  a  lamp  of  my  lighting,  if  thou  canst  add  anj'thing 
to  it  I  shall  be  pleased  ".?  He  will  not  hear  me  ;  he  must  find 
the  lamp,  he  must  find  the  fire,  he  must  renew  the  light ;  I  must 
live,  and  move,  and  have  my  being  in  him.  He  does  not  supple- 
ment me,  he  creates  me. 

Perhaps  a  misconception  of  this  law  may  have  something  to  do 
with  our  spiritual  poverty  and  feebleness.  We  may  have  thought 
that  God  would  eke  out  our  respectability.  It  may  have  occurred 
to  us  that  we  may  bring  fine  culture  to  heaven,  and  heaven  may 
be  only  too  glad  to  accept  it.  O  cursed  profanity  !  Yet  I  dare 
not  say  that  some  of  us  have  not  brought  our  scholarship,  or  cult- 
ure, or  outward  polish,  and  have  expected  the  Church  to  be  only 
too  thankful  to  accept  such  astounding  respectability.  We  must 
be  creations,  not  improvements  ;  we  contribute  nothing.  ' '  By  the 
grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am' '  must  be  the  humbling  yet  enno- 
bling consciousness  of  every  man  who  would  do  any  real  and  last- 
ing good  in  the  world. 

Thus  we  have  spoken  of  the  gift  of  power.  To  what  intent  the 
power  was  given  will  appear  in  our  next  reading.  The  gift  was 
directly  given  by  the  Son  of  God.  Can  he  be  but  a  man  who  has 
such  gifts  to  give .?  He  is  more  than  a  man  to  me  ;  he  is  my 
Lord  and  my  God.  He  invokes  no  sacred  name,  he  utters  no 
incantation,  he  mutters  from  behind  no  veil  of  mystery.  Seated 
there,  in  absolute  littleness  of  simplicity,  he  conducts  the  inves- 
titure of  twelve  men  with  the  almightiness  of  God,  within  the  circle 
which  he  describes  for  their  mission.  From  his  own  heart  as  from 
a  quiver  he  draws  the  arrows  which  these  men  are  to  shoot.  Who 
was  he  ?  Why  did  not  they  give  him  power  .?  How  came  he  to 
be  the  origin  and  fountain  of  this  might .?  How  was  it  that  he 
always  gave  and  never  received  } 

How  this  power  will  be  wielded  we  shall  see  by-and-by.     Per- 
haps under  its  exercise  the  wilderness  may  blossom  as  the  rose 
and  the  sandy  places  may  be.  green  as  the  fertile  meadow. 


XLIII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  life  is  a  continual  cry  unto  thee  ;  thine  ear  is  be- 
sieged with  the  prayers  of  men.  We  are  for  ever  in  want,  our  experience 
is  a  cry  to  be  somewhat  more  than  we  already  are.  This  is  not  discontent, 
this  is  the  joy  of  being  yet  unsatisfied.  Thou  hast  more  grace  to  give, 
more  light  to  shed,  broader  and  grander  revelations  thou  hast  yet  to  dis- 
close, and  we  feel  the  joyous  pain  of  a  hunger  that  is  about  to  eat,  and  the 
welcome  grateful  fire  of  a  thirst  that  may  quench  itself  in  the  river  of  God. 
May  we  never  be  satisfied,  may  we  never  be  dissatisfied,  may  we  forever 
be  unsatisfied,  yearning  for  more,  longing  to  be  more,  and  to  do  more, 
and  to  see  more.  Thus  may  our  soul's  life  be  a  continual  growth,  an 
eternal  expansion,  a  yearning  after  the  infinite,  receiving  continual  answers 
according  to  each  day's  necessity. 

We  bless  thee  for  a  book  that  is  like  a  store  of  living  seed  :  let  it  be 
planted  deeply  in  the  heart's  ground,  honest  and  well-prepared,  and  behold 
it  will  rise  up  in  due  time  a  golden  harvest,  too  large  for  any  storage  room 
we  have.  May  the  word  of  Christ  thus  dwell  in  us  richly,  not  in  the  seed 
only,  not  in  the  letter  alone,  but  as  a  seed  that  is  sown,  as  a  letter  that  is 
understood  and  has  grown  in  all  its  spiritual  blossoming  and  fruitfulness, 
and  may  we  thus,  in  a  high  and  ever  widening  consciousness  of  thy  pres- 
ence, grow  in  grace.  Leaving  all  narrowness  and  selfishness,  all  bigotry 
and  exclusiveness,  may  we  know  that  the  end  of  the  commandment  is 
charity,  and  that  we  have  nothing  if  we  have  not  love — that  whatsoever 
we  may  have  in  our  head  if  our  hearts  be  not  large  enough  to  encompass 
the  world,  we  are  trees  twice  dead  and  plucked  up  by  the  roots.  Teach  us 
this  great  lesson  ;  thy  Church  cannot  learn  it,  thy  Church  is  dead,  thy 
Church  has  gone  astray,  we  have  lost  our  love,  our  charity  is  dead. 

We  pray  thee  to  receive  what  we  can  give  of  humble  praise  for  all  thy 
tender  mercies  and  thy  lovingkindnesses.  Thou  art  always  before  us  and 
right  above  us,  far  beyond  our  song  as  the  light  is  far  beyond  the  birds 
which  sing  in  its  lustre.  Still  we  would  be  praising  thee  ;  feeble  and  halt- 
ing as  our  song  is  we  cannot  keep  it  back  ;  when  we  see  thy  mercy  we 
must  respond  to  it,  when  we  feel  the  glow  of  thy  love  there  must  be  an  an- 
swer in  our  heart,  and  when  speech  fails  us  to  set  forth  infinite  fire  in  cold 
words,  then  do  we  take  to  singing  and  making  melody  in  our  hearts,  the 
higher  speech,  the  speech  which  thou  dost  understand. 

"We  come  before  thee  with  every  power  bruised,  with  every  promise 
neglected,  with  every  commandment  broken,  feeble  in  our  knees,  and  our 


MATTHEW  X.   5-23.  141 

hands  hanging  down  in  impotence,  our  heads  bewildered,  and  our  hearts 
divided.  Behold  us  in  this  hospital — sick,  wounded,  diseased,  blind, 
crippled,  with  nothing  to  show  but  our  poverty,  with  nothing  to  declare 
but  our  sin  and  our  penitence  ;  and  whilst  we  mourn  our  sin,  come  to  us 
and  show  us  that  thy  grace  has  more  than  provided  for  us,  that  the 
almightiness  of  God  is  in  excess  of  the  feebleness  of  man  ;  that  where  sin 
abounds  grace  doth  much  more  abound  ;  that  the  blackness  of  our  life 
shall  be  utterly  taken  away  by  the  blood  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin. 

Thou  knowest  what  we  need.  We  are  getting  older — we  would  become 
better  ;  the  days  are  flying — we  would  write  some  deeper  thing  upon  them 
than  we  have  yet  inscribed  ;  our  opportunities  of  usefulness  are  dwindling, 
and  we  would  arise  and  work  like  men  who  see  the  sun  is  going  down. 
The  Lord  help  us  in  all  high  purpose,  in  all  noble  resolution.  The  Lord 
purify  us  with  flames  of  fire  from  heaven,  and  baptise  us  every  day  with 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

Enlarge  us,  for  we  are  small  ;  kindle  a  great  light  in  our  intelligence, 
for  we  trim  our  lamp  with  our  own  fingers,  and  feed  it  with  our  own  oil. 
O,  that  we  might  live  in  the  sun,  and  stand  in  the  very  glory  of  God  ! 
Amen. 

Matthew  x.  5-23. 

5.  These  twelve  Jesus  sent  forth,  and  commanded  them,  saying.  Go  not 
into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  (the 
Gentile  inhabitants  of  the  country  between  Judea  and  Galilee.  The  pro- 
hibition is  taken  off  Acts  xiii.  46)  enter  ye  not : 

6.  But  go  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel. 

•    7.  And  as  ye  go,  preach,  saying,  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 

8.  Heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils  ; 
freely  ye  have  received  freely  give. 

9.  Provide  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses. 

10.  Nor  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither  shoes,  nor 
yet  staves  :  for  the  workman  is  worthy  of  his  meat. 

11.  And  into  whatsoever  city  or  town  ye  shall  enter,  enquire  who  in  it 
is  worthy  ;  and  there  abide  till  ye  go  thence. 

12.  And  when  ye  come  into  an  house,  salute  it. 

13.  And  if  the  house  be  worthy,  let  your  peace  come  upon  it  ;  but  if  it 
be  not  worthy,  let  your  peace  return  to  you. 

14.  And  whosoever  shall  not  receive  you,  nor  hear  your  words,  when  ye 
depart  out  of  that  house  or  city,  shake  off  the  dust  of  your  feet. 

15.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for  that  city. 

16.  Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves  :  be  ye 
therefore  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves. 

17.  But  beware  of  men  :  for  they  will  deliver  you  up  to  the  councils, 
and  they  will  scourge  vou  in  their  synagogues  ; 


142  INSPIRED  POWER. 

i8.  And  ye  shall  be  brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake,  for 
a  testimony  against  them  and  the  Gentiles. 

19.  But  when  they  deliver  you  up,  take  no  thought  how  or  what  ye 
shall  speak  ;  for  it  shall  be  given  you  in  that  same  hour  what  ye  shall 
speak. 

20.  For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  which 
speaketh  in  you. 

21.  And  the  brother  shall  deliver  up  the  brother  to  death,  and  the 
father  the  child  ;  and  the  children  shall  rise  up  against  their  parents,  and 
cause  them  to  be  put  to  death. 

22.  And  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake  :  but  he  that 
endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved. 

23.  But  when  they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye  into  another:  for 
verily  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel  till 
the  Son  of  man  be  come. 


THE  USES  OF  INSPIRED  POWER. 

WE  are  now  studying  the  charge  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  to 
his  twelve  apostles  or  disciples,  when  he  sent  them  upon 
their  first  missionary  tour.  In  the  charge  we  found  three  things — 
Power,  Service,  and  Consolation.  ' '  Jesus  Christ  called  unto  him 
his  twelve  disciples  and  gave  them — power."  To-day  we  have  to 
look  at  the  uses  to  which  that  power  was  to  be  put.  Power  is 
another  name  for  duty  ;  the  measure  of  power  is  the  measure  of 
obligation.  It  was  never  God's  intention  that  you  should  take  the 
power  which  he  gave  you  and  enfold  it  and  lay  it  aside,  to  be 
merely  kept  in  its  first  state — which  indeed  is  impossible,  for 
power  that  is  not  used  declines  and  dies.  This  we  know  in  our 
intellectual  education,  in  all  the  exercises  of  life — the  power  which 
falls  into  desuetude  soon  becomes  impotence.  Whatever  power 
we  have,  therefore,  is  meant  to  be  used  for  the  good  of  others. 
If  we  cannot  work  miracles,  we  have  the  power  of  eloquence,  the 
power  of  money,  the  power  of  sympathy — we  are  clothed  not  with 
less  power  than  that  with  which  the  early  disciples  were  invested — 
it  has  another  aspect,  and  in  some  sense  it  may  be  turned  to  other 
methods  and  uses,  but  essentially  it  is  divine  power,  and  it  is 
meant  to  be  expended  for  the  good  of  the  race.  It  is  not  a  per- 
sonal possession  or  a  personal  luxury  only,  it  is  meant  for  expen- 
diture, for  spreading  over  the  largest  possible  surface,  and  for  ac- 
complishing the  largest  usefulness. 


MATTHEW  X.   5-23.  143 


What  is  your  power  ?  You  can  speak  a  kind  word,  you  can 
illuminate  a  dark  mystery,  you  can  soothingly  touch  some  bitter 
distress  of  the  heart,  you  can  utter  a  hopeful  word  to  the  man  who 
is  in  despair,  you  can  sit  down  and  listen  sympathetically  to  the 
heart  that  has  a  long  tale  of  wonder  or  of  woe  or  of  bitterness  to 
tell.  Find  out  what  your  particular  personal  power  is,  and  under- 
stand that  wherever  power  is  given,  duty  is  implied. 

Jesus  Christ  always  used  his  power  beneficially.  When  all 
power  was  given  to  him  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  how  did  he  em- 
ploy it  ?  I  know  of  no  words  more  sublime  in  their  moral  pathos 
than  the  words  which  he  used  when  he  declared  that  all  power 
was  given  unto  him.  He  mentioned  nothing  about  destruction. 
He  made  no  reference  to  retaliation,  he  did  not  say,  "All  power  is 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  therefore  gather  mine  ene- 
mies together  that  I  may  consume  them  with  sudden  fire."  Pause 
and  hear  what  he  has  to  say,  and  tell  me  if  ever  logic  was  surprised 
into  such  sequences  as  in  the  case  of  his  great  speech.  "  All 
power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth — go  ye  therefore." 
You  call  the  word  therefore  a  logical  word,  you  say  it  indicates  a 
sequence,  and  unites  what  is  coming  with  what  is  gone.  Observe 
into  what  wondrous  breadths  this  therefore  expands  itself.  "  Go 
ye  therefore  and  teach. ' '  That  is  the  true  use  of  power — to  edu- 
cate, to  teach,  to  communicate  ideas^  to  build  up  a  spiritual  king- 
dom, to  deliver  men  from  darkness  and  error  and  narrowness,  and 
to  lift  them  up  into  a  larger  self-hood.  Such  is  the  purpose  of 
Christianity,  and  whilst  the  Church  holds  her  faith  to  that  intent, 
whoever  speaks  against  it  but  wastes  his  own  breath. 

Let  us  now  hear  what  Jesus  Christ  says  to  his  twelve  disciples 
when  he  sends  them  forth.  He  says  in  verses  nine  and  ten — 
"  Provide  neither  gold  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses,  nor 
scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither  shoes,  nor  yet 
staves."  That  is  the  way  to  go  missioning.  That  is  the  way  to 
evangelize  the  world.  He  never  amended  that  method,  he  never 
said  a  single  word  about  outfits  and  guarantees  and  supports  and 
home  refuges  in  the  case  of  foreign  disappointments.  It  is  the 
method  that  must  be  adopted  to-day  if  Christian  men  are  in  ear- 
nest. Go  to  foreign  lands  with  nothing — nothing  but  yourself  and 
God.  Do  you  want  to  be  a  missionary  to  barbarous  lands — to 
savage   people }     Then    go  at  once  and  tell   no  one  about  it. 


144  THE   TRUE  MISSIONARY  SPIRIT. 

"  But  I  cannot  pay  my  passage.  "  Then  work  it.  Pull  ropes,  carry 
chains,  keep  fires — work  it,  or  you  do  not  mean  to  go.  ' '  But  I 
must  have  time  to  buy  an  outfit."  On  what  compulsion  must 
you  }  You  are  not  a  missionary.  If  you  had  the  fire  of  God 
burning  in  you  and  wanted  to  go  to  reclaim  the  moral  wastes  of 
the  world,  you  would  be  off  !  You  would  not  need  to  go  and 
converse  with  your  minister  about  it,  and  consult  a  number  of 
elderly  persons  concerning  it,  and  to  go  around  certain  circum- 
locutionary  paths  to  come  to  it — we  would  ask  "  Where  is  he.?" 
And  by-and-by  the  answer  would  come,  that  Christ  had  sent  you 
forth,  without  scrip  or  purse,  or  shoes,  or  coats,  or  staves.  The 
Church  now  goes  respectably,  well  equipped— the  Church  now 
goes  to  taste  the  ill-smelling  dish  of  heathenism,  and  if  its  nostril 
be  offended  by  the  flavour,  it  comes  home. 

That  kind  of  energy,  if  energy  it  may  be  termed,  will  never  con- 
quer the  world.  If  Christ  has  called  you  very  closely  to  himself, 
and  has  told  you  to  go  and  be  a  missionary,  then  go.  The  Nor- 
wegians are  following  in  this  matter  the  counsel  and  will  of  Christ. 
They  went  into  India  and  said  to  the  people  with  whom  they  came 
in  contact  :  ' '  We  have  come  to  teach  you  Christianity. "  "  Who 
sent  you.?"  "Nobody."  "What  have  you  to  live  upon.?" 
"  Nothing."  "  How  do  you  mean  to  live .?"  "  We  mean  to  do 
you  all  the  good  we  can,  and  we  are  sure  you  will  not  let  us 
starve."  "But  if  we  have  nothing.?"  "Then  we  will  have 
nothing  along  with  you. "  There  was  no  answer  to  that  argument. 
The  Norwegians  meant  it,  sat  down  and  did  it.  Now,  my  young 
friend,  you  who  are  talking  about  going  to  be  a  missionary,  why 
do  you  not  start  off  on  your  beneficent  journey  at  once  .?  You 
may  be  killed  if  you  touch  mechanism  ;  the  machinery  of  the 
Church  is  now  so  complicated  that  if  you  do  not  take  care  some 
crank  or  wheel  will  catch  you,  and  in  you  will  go,  and  you  will 
never  come  out  again. 

This  is  exacdy  how  Christ  himself  came.  "  Who,  being  in  the 
form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to'  be  equal  with  God,  but 
made  himself  of  no  reputation  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a 
servant. ' '  Just  what  I  told  you  now  to  do — take  upon  you  the 
form  of  a  sailor,  work  your  passage  out  to  the  land  you  want  to  go 
to,  and  Christ  will  go  along  with  you,  and  you  shall  not  have  gone 
much  over  the  land  till  the  Son  of  man  be  come.      He  comes  in 


MATTHEW  X.    5-23.  T45 


strange  ways,  in  great  broad  lines,  in  swiftly  expanding  conscious- 
ness of  his  presence,  by  filling  the  mind  with  new  brightness  and 
the  soul  with  new  emotion,  and  lifting  up  the  life  to  higher  and 
diviner  energies.  It  is  not  the  case  of  sending  men  into  Christian 
cities  to  speak  to  the  Christian .  intelligence  and  the  Christian  lux- 
ury of  the  age.  We  are  talking  to  the  intelligence,  and  culture, 
and  wealth,  and  social  influence  of  the  metropolis.  That  is  not 
the  case  described  in  the  text.  We  are  men  who  profess  to  know 
the  truth  and  to  love  it,  and  we  have  established  amongst  our- 
selves constituted  and  permanent  ministries  of  the  truth.  We 
must,  therefore,  not  apply  to  ourselves  passages,  directions, 
methods,  and  schemes  which  were  suggested  in  reference  to  na- 
tions that  knew  not  that  Jesus  Christ  had  come. 

Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  appears  before  us  as  a  man  who  under- 
takes a  great  work,  upon  conditions  which  cannot  be  disappoint- 
ed. He  wants  only  i7ieat,  and  there  is  something  in  human  nature 
that  will  not  let  the  earnest  man  starve.  The  workman  is  worthy 
of  his  meat.  Go  where  you  will,  earnest  man,  you  shall  have 
bread  enough  and  to  spare.  Not,  perhaps,  to  day,  but  to-morrow 
you  will  have  more  than  sufficient,  and  that  you  can  keep  for  the 
day  that  is  to  follow,  or  give  it  away  as  you  please.  But  you  can- 
not show  disinterestedness,  the  passion  of  enthusiasm,  the  divinity 
of  absolute  consecration,  and  be  left  to  starve.  There  are  always 
kind  hearts,  open  houses,  thoughtful  minds,  liberal  hands  ;  God 
has  his  elect  everywhere — out  of  hell.  Our  care  must  be  about 
the  truth  ;  God  will  take  care  about  the  bread.  If  Jesus  Christ 
had  set  up  a  missionary  scheme  with  most  intricate,  and  complex, 
and  expensive  mechanism  it  would  have  come  to  nothing,  but  its 
conditions  are  so  simple,  so  heroic,  so  grand  and  so  perfectly  ex- 
emplified in  his  own  person,  that  they  apply  to  all  times,  lands, 
climes,  and  social  conditions,  and  national  and  world-wide  neces- 
sities. 

In  sending  men  forth  to  their  duty,  Jesus  Christ  shows  them 
clearly  what  they  will  certainly  have  to  bear.  He  does  not  prom- 
ise them  a  downy  pillow,  he  does  not  promise  them  genteel 
society,  he  does  not  offer  to  them  any  social  bribe  ;  he  says, 
"  You  will  be  like  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves,  they  will  fall 
upon  you,  break  your  bones,  suck  your  blood  ;  ye  shall  be 
brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake.     The  brother 


146  CHARACTER   OF  GOODNESS. 

shall  deliver  up  the  brother  to  death,  and  the  father  the  child,  and 
children  shall  rise  up  against  their  parents  and  cause  them  to  be 
put  to  death,  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's 
sake. ' '  There  is  no  mistaking  the  lot  of  the  true  Christian  evan- 
gelist. He  has  a  hard  time  of  it.  Goodness  is  always  hateful  to 
evil  ;  the  beasts  that  gather  together  in  the  night-time  hate  the 
light — you  torment  them  if  you  turn  a  sudden  blaze  upon  them, 
for  they  hasten  and  fly,  and  gnash  their  teeth,  and  display  ani- 
mosity and  resentment.  Goodness  can  never  establish  itself  any- 
where without  a  battle.  Do  not  suppose  that  you  can  lull  the 
enemy  to  sleep  and  put  up  your  house,  and  when  you  have  roofed 
it,  and  completed  it,  and  furnished  it,  can  then  tell  him  that  it  is 
beyond  his  strength.  The  establishment  of  goodness  is  a  daily 
battle.  You  cannot  take  upon  you  a  new  habit  without  having  to 
fight  for  every  inch  of  ground  you  make  ;  you  cannot  exert  your- 
self to  throw  off  slothfulness  or  any  self-indulgence  without  having 
to  fight  for  the  end. 

What  is  true  in  discipline  is  true  in  the  educational  and  moral 
conquest  of  the  world.  In  proportion  as  you  are  free  and  easy  in 
your  methods  of  going  into  any  company,  and  taking  its  similitude 
and  speaking  its  language,  will  you  have  an  easy  time  of  it,  but  if 
you  have  a  grand  programme,  a  rousing  and  elevating  purpose, 
you  will  go  as  sheep  among  wolves.  Do  not  imagine  that  good- 
ness is  peaceful.  Goodness  is  controversial.  They  who  "  make 
a  desert  and  call  it  peace"  may  never  intermeddle  with  anything 
that  affects  the  integrity  and  nobleness  of  society,  and  then  say 
that  they  are  living  quiet  and  peaceable  lives.  Quiet  lives  they 
may  be,  but  not  peaceful.  Peaceful — that  is  a  resultant  word,  it 
combines  many  elements  and  many  considerations,  and  reconciles 
into  one  sweet  harmony  forces  which,  taken  separately,  are  among 
the  most  combatant  energies  of  the  universe.  Goodness  always 
sends  a  sword  upon  the  earth,  and  kindles  a  fire,  and  divides 
families  ;  sets  the  father  against  the  child  and  the  child  against  the 
father,  and  the  brother  against  the  brother,  and  kindles  a  great 
fire  upon  the  earth.  We  have  succeeded  now  in  putting  the  fire 
out,  and  have  come  to  the  age  of  courteous  civilities  and  tender 
regard  for  one  another's  evil  habits.  The  old  goodness,  heaven's 
own  angel,  the  Christ-goodness,  fought  every  day,  not  with  a 
blade   of  steel  but  with  that  keener  blade  of  conviction,   enthu- 


MATTHEW  X.   5-23.  147 


siasm,  sacrifice,   that  counted  not  its  life  dear  unto  itself  that  it 
might  win  the  battle  against  evil,  and  darkness,  and  corruption. 

One  would  have  thought  that  in  sending  forth  Goodness  the 
angel  would  have  been  recognised  at  once  and  welcomed  with 
broad  and  generous  hospitality.  This  historical  reception  of  good- 
ness enables  us  to  answer  and  destroy  a  fallacy  which  is  common 
in  modern  reasoning.  People  say,  "  Show  a  beautiful  example, 
a  beautiful  God,  a  beautiful  gospel,  and  there  will  be  an  answer  of 
devotion  and  homage  in  every  human  heart."  That  has  been 
proved  to  be  false.  The  example  is  not  enough  ;  men  are  not 
saved  by  spectacles  :  we  need  something  higher  than  a  spectacular 
gospel.  Men  get  used  to  beauty,  and  theirs  is  a  familiarity  which 
is  followed  by  contempt.  There  are  men  amongst  us  who  care 
nothing  for  the  sunrise ;  there  are  men  who  could  gabble  in  a 
sunset ;  there  are  persons  who  could  chaffer  and  joke  upon  the 
great  sea.  Understand  that  surprising  miracles  of  beauty  are  like 
surprising  miracles  of  truth — men  may  become  so  accustomed  to 
them  as  to  let  them  pass  by  without  recognition  or  homage. 

Goodness  has  always  had  a  hard  time  of  it.  In  proportion  as 
the  Church  becomes  luxurious  will  the  Church  become  feeble.  In 
proportion  as  the  Church  says  to  the  world,  "  Let  us  compromise 
this  business  and  say  nothing  unpleasant  to  one  another,  but  sit 
down  and  enjoy  ourselves  as  far  as  we  can,"  the  Church  has  dis- 
established itself  in  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  men,  and  has 
broken  the  trust  and  vow  paid  before  God's  heaven.  A  little  per- 
secution and  difficulty  would  do  the  Church  good.  We  have 
heard  of  some  preachers  who  would  be  mighty  speakers  if  they 
could  only  be  contradicted  in  the  middle  of  their  discourse,  but 
left  to  themselves  they  are  inclined  to  maunder,  and  halt,  and 
become  feeble,  and  monotonous,  and  pointless.  If  an  antagonist 
could  arise  in  the  congregation  and  say,  "  That  is  not  true,"  such 
preachers  would  become  different  men,  every  energy  a  flame,  and 
the  whole  voice  a  thunder  sent  down  from  heaven. 

It  is  even  so  with  the  Church  :  we  have  it  so  much  our  own  way 
now,  the  lines  of  demarcation  are  broken  up,  and  the  old  points 
indicated  by  Christ  of  antagonism,  and  assault,  and  aggression  are, 
if  not  utterly  obliterated,  so  treated  as  to  have  lost  their  accent  and 
their  force.     Only  this  morning  I  was  reading  the  old  story  of 


148  OBLIGATION  OF    THE  RIGHT. 

Hannibal — one  winter  in  Capua  brought  about  a  ruin  which  the 
snows  of  the  Alps,  the  suns  of  Italy,  the  treachery  of  the  Gauls, 
and  the  prowess  of  the  Romans  failed  to  accomplish.  So  long  as 
he  was  a  soldier  only,  stern  in  discipline,  rigorous  in  his  habits, 
devoted  with  indivisible  strength  to  his  duty,  he  feared  nothing — 
the  setting  down  of  his  foot  was  as  a  battle  half  won  ;  but  the 
blandishments  and  enfeeblements  of  luxurious  Capua  sucked  the 
strength  out  of  the  giant  and  left  him  a  common  man.  The 
Church  has  gone  to  Capua,  the  Church  is  wintering  in  luxurious 
places — the  grand  old  Church  that  wrote  human  names  high  up 
above  all  other  human  scrolls,  martyrs,  heroes,  leaders — she  can 
now  hardly  write  her  name  in  common  ink. 

Jesus  Christ  told  his  disciples  how  to  treat  the  cities  and  towns 
that  rejected  the  message  which  they  had  to  convey  to  them. 
' '  Whosoever  shall  not  receive  you  nor  hear  your  words,  when  ye 
depart  out  of  that  house  or  city  shake  off  the  dust  of  your  feet." 
They  mistake  Christ  who  suppose  that  he  is  soft,  indifferent,  easily 
imposed  upon,  and  who  can  be  treated  contemptuously  without 
feeling  it.  We  read  of  the  wrath  of  the  L?-mb,  the  fire  of  love, 
the  indignation  of  grace — God's  heart  burning  like  an  oven. 
Jesus  Christ  here  founds  his  directions  upon  the  grand  and  inde- 
structible principle  which  lies  at  the  very  base,  and  forms  the  very 
strength,  of  all  high  educational  purposes.  What  is  that  princi- 
ple .''  It  is  that  no  man  has  the  right  to  reject  truth.  He  has  the 
power  to  do  it,  but  not  the  right.  We  have  liberty  to  go  to  per- 
dition, but  not  the  right.  You  have  no  right  to  refuse  a  just  idea, 
you  have  no  right  to  shut  yourself  up  in  solitude  and  say,  "  I  will 
not  listen  to  the  ministries  of  civilization  that  are  going  on  around 
me."  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  in  any  day  of  judgment  than  for  you  if  you  adopt  so 
unrighteous  and  ignoble  a  policy.  No  man  has  any  right  to 
refuse  to  read  a  book  that  will  open  his  eyes  and  give  him  wider 
light  than  he  has  yet  enjoyed.  He  may  decline  a  privilege,  he 
cannot  thrust  from  him  a  right  without  incurring  loss  in  himself 
and  divine  punishment  from  without.  This  is  not  arbitrary  doc- 
trine, this  is  no  conception  of  any  individual  thinker  ;  all  the  his- 
tory of  our  education  and  civil  progress  testifies  to  the  same  thing. 

What  new  responsibility  this  throws  upon  us  !     We  have  not 


MATTHEW  X.    5-23.  149 

the  right  to  reject  truth  ;  we  have  the  right  to  examine  our  minis- 
ters ;  we  have  the  right  to  examine  every  spirit  that  comes  to  us 
and  challenges  our  attention,  we  have  a  right  to  examine  personal 
credentials  and  personal  authorities,  but  where  any  truth  is  estab- 
lished no  man  has  a  right  to  reject  it,  and  if  any  man  reject  a 
truth,  even  unwittingly  or  unintentionally,  he  shall  suffer  loss  ;  he 
himself  shall  be  saved,  but  very  narrowly.  If  I  keep  out  any  part 
of  the  sun  that  can  really  do  my  life  good,  I  suffer  loss  in  propor- 
tion to  the  sunlight  which  I  exclude. 

Jesus  Christ,  then,  defined  the  service  which  his  disciples  are  to 
perform.  In  our  last  address  he  clothed  them  with  power  ;  to- 
day he  indicates  the  field  of  service,  he  will  next  come  to  us  with  his 
sweet  consolations  and  encouragements  ;  he  will  lower  his  voice 
into  another  key,  and  speak  sweetly  to  the  heart.  We  saw  that  it 
is  not  enough  for  a  man  to  have  power  to  do  his  duty  ;  sheer,  dry, 
hard  strength  is  not  enough.  The  man  will  come  home  disap- 
pointed ;  he  will  not  see  the  result  of  his  labours,  and  he  may  cry 
bitterly  for  his  failure,  and  it  is  in  that  hour  of  darkness  that  Jesus 
Christ  will  draw  him  nearer  than  ever  to  his  hospitable  heart,  and 
speak  to  him  in  tones  of  ineffable  sweetness  the  infinite  consola- 
tions which  sustained  his  own  strength  when  he  trod  the  winepress 
alone.  One  remark  occurs  to  me  which  might  have  been  made  under 
our  last  discourse,  but  which  might  be  made  appropriately  in  any 
connection  when  speaking  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  last  verse  of  the 
ninth  chapter  Jesus  said,  ' '  Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that'  he 
will  send  forth  labourers  into  his  harvest. ' '  In  the  first  verse  of 
the  tenth  chapter  we  read  that  Jesus  Christ  gave  his  disciples 
power,  and  that  he  sent  them  forth  with  his  gracious  commands. 
The  Lord  of  the  har\'est  is  to  be  prayed  to  that  he  would  send  forth 
labourers  ;  Jesus  Christ  himself  sends  forth  labourers — was  he  Lord 
of  the  harvest  ? 


l"^ 


XLIV. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  hast  given  unto  every  day  its  own  light,  and  to 
this  day  of  all  the  seven  dost  thou  often  give  the  brightest  light  of  all. 
Sometimes  thou  dost  make  us  glad  by  the  mere  power  of  the  light  that 
shines  around  us,  for  it  touches  our  stony  hearts  into  music  and  upon  our 
eyes  it  sheds  the  brightness  of  a  new  hope.  We  come  to  thee  this  Sabbath 
day,  with  all  the  memories  which  make  it  the  day  blest  of  heaven  and 
dear  to  earth.  We  have  seen  the  Crucified  One  ;  we  have  seen  the  grave 
wherein  he  was  laid  ;  we  were  early  at  the  place  of  sepulture,  and  behold 
he  was  not  there,  for  he  had  risen,  as  all  good  men  must  rise,  and  all 
good  causes  that  have  been  smitten  and  wounded  and  slain  must  come  up 
again — and  behold  we  have  found  him,  and  in  his  "All-hail"  we  have 
stood  still  to  receive  his  blessing  and  to  hear  his  instructions. 

We  have  come  to  thine  house  to-day  with  expectations  not  easily  fulfill- 
ed ;  we  have  heard  of  the  wondrous  things  thou  hast  promised  to  them  that 
love  thee  ;  we  have  been  told  that  the  riches  of  Christ  are  unsearchable, 
we  have  been  given  to  understand  that  thy  spirit  only  can  reveal  the 
heavenly  things  to  souls  prepared  for  the  disclosure,  and  satisfy  our 
expectation  so  as  to  create  in  it  a  new  expectancy,  a  wider  and  brighter 
hope.  Thus  do  thou  satisfy  us  by  always  showing  us  that  there  is  more 
to  be  done  and  more  to  be  received  ;  this  satisfaction  is  the  inspiration  of 
our  manhood,  it  is  a  benediction  upon  our  growth,  it  lures  us  by  many  a 
gentle  compulsion  to  still  stronger  endeavour  and  still  more  patient  endur- 
ance and  industry. 

We  bless  thee  for  the  corn  we  have  reaped  this  week  :  thou  hast  granted 
unto  the  fields  plentifulness  of  produce,  and  thou  hast  given  our  arm 
strength,  and  thou  hast  sharpened  our  sickle,  and  we  have  cut  down  the 
golden  grain,  and  we  rejoice  in  the  abundance  of  the  provision.  Thou 
hast  done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad.  Thou  hast  filled  us 
with  the  plenteousness  of  thine  own  grace,  thou  hast  established  us  in  a 
confidence  that  cannot  be  shaken,  thou  hast  preserved  unto  us  our  friends 
— the  old  man  by  the  fireside,  the  little  child  in  the  cradle,  the  busy  man 
full  of  distress  about  his  dally  bread,  the  mother  and  the  sister— we  are  all 
here,  and  behold  our  psalm  is  one  of  homage  and  adoration  to  heaven. 
We  will  bless  the  Lord  with  all  musical  instruments,  we  will  call  upon  the 
very  stones  of  the  temple  to  join  us  in  our  loud  Hallelujah,  for  thy  mercy 
has  been  tender,  thy  kindness  has  been  loving,  thou  hast  kept  our  eyes 
from  tears,  our  soul  from  death,  our  feet  from  falling. 


MATTHEW  X.  24-42.  151 

The  Lord  anoint  us  every  day  from  heaven  as  with  a  new  baptism, 
rekindle  every  morning  the  fire  upon  the  altar  of  our  heart,  give  us  in- 
creasing  delight  in  the  broadening  revelations  of  thy  truth,  may  we  obey 
every  indication  from  heaven  of  the  will  and  purpose  of  our  Father.  Help 
us  to  lose  our  life  that  we  may  find  it,  and  save  us  from  the  delusion  that 
if  we  would  save  our  life  we  must  find  it  of  our  own  strength.  The  Lord 
help  us  to  trust  his  law,  to  live  upon  his  grace,  to  answer  his  calls,  then 
shall  there  be  in  our  hearts  a  great  peace.and  in  our  eyes  a  shining  light. 

Look  upon  us  as  we  are  bowed  down  here  at  thy  throne.  We  have  come, 
not  to  plead  against  thy  law,  but  to  confess  that  we  have  broken  it.  We 
have  not  brought  our  virtues  for  thy  survey,  but  our  vices  for  thy  pardon. 
We  do  not  boast  of  our  strength,  we  are  humbled  by  our  weakness,  and 
now  with  the  outstretched  love  of  our  hearts  we  grasp  the  great  cross,  the 
cross  of  Christ,  the  one  and  only  cross  by  which  men  can  be  saved. 

Thou  knowestwhat  we  are,  what  we  need,  what  our  single  pain  is,  what 
is  the  story  we  dare  not  tell  to  human  ears,  what  are  the  prayers  for  which 
there  are  no  words,  our  heart-yearnings,  our  deep  desires,  our  solicitudes 
that  are  often  expressed  in  sighing  and  in  tears.  All  these  things  thou 
knowest — come  to  us  through  Jesus  Christ  thy  Son,  our  Saviour,  not  ac- 
cording to  the  narrowness  of  our  prayers,  but  according  to  the  infinite 
fulness  of  thine  own  love.     Amen. 

Matthew  x.  24-42. 

24.  The  disciple  is  not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord. 

25.  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  master,  and  the  servant 
as  his  lord.  If  they  have  called  the  master  of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how 
much  more  shall  they  call  them  of  his  household  ? 

26.  Fear  them  not  therefore  :  for  there  is  nothing  covered,  that  shall  not 
be  revealed  ;  and  hid,  that  shall  not  be  known. 

27.  What  I  tell  you  in  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  light :  and  what  ye 
hear  in  the  ear,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  housetops. 

28.  And  fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul  :  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell. 

2g.  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  ?  and  one  of  them  shall 
not  fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Father. 

30.  But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered. 

31.  Fear  ye  not  therefore,  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows. 

32.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will  I  confess 
also  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

33.  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny 
before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

34.  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth  :  I  came  not  to 
send  peace,  but  a  sword. 

35.  For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his  father,  and  the 


152  CHRIST'S  COMFORT. 

daughter  against  her  mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother- 
in-law. 

36.  And  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household. 

37.  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me  .■ 
and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me. 

38.  And  he  that  taketh  not  his  cross,  and  followeth  after  me,  is  not 
worthy  of  me. 

39.  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it  :  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for 
my  sake  shall  find  it. 

40.  He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me,  and  he  that  receiveth  me  re- 
ceiveth  him  that  sent  me. 

41.  He  that  receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet  shall  receive 
a  prophet's  reward  ;  and  he  that  receiveth  a  righteous  man  in  the  name 
of  a  righteous  man  shall  receive  a  righteous  man's  reward. 

42.  And  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto  one  of  these  little  ones  a 
cup  of  cold  water  only  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  verily  I  say  unto  you  he 
shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  reward. 

CHRIST'S  CONSOLATION  FOR  WORKERS. 

LET  me  call  your  attention  to  an  instructive  fact.  All  these 
tender  consolations  were  given  beforehand.  Jesus  Christ 
did  not  wait  until  the  disciples  returned,  bruised  and  shattered, 
and  then  gather  them  into  his  heart  and  heal  them,  as  it  were, 
with  his  s}anpathy  and  blood.  Jesus  Christ  once  said,  "  I  will 
give  the  multitudes  bread,  lest  they  faint  by  the  way."  That  text 
gave  us  a  discourse  upon  the  preveniive  ministry  of  Christ.  He 
did  not  wait  until  the  people  had  actually  fainted,  and  then  give 
them  bread  :  he  gave  them  bread  to  prevent  the  fainting.  He  hath 
prevented  me  with  his  lovingkindness — that  is  to  say,  he  hath 
run  before  me  to  get  ready  for  my  weakness  and  hunger,  and  ere 
the  blow  has  been  struck  the  healing  has  been  made  ready. 

I  hold  it  to  be  a  noteworthy  fact  that  this  comfort  formed  part  of 
the  inspiraiio7i  of  the  disciples.  The  comfort  was,  so  to  say,  part 
of  the  capital  on  which  they  had  to  live.  If  Jesus  Christ  had  been 
sending  forth  men  to  add  to  the  leprosy  of  the  world,  to  strike 
thousands  more  of  its  inhabitants  blind,  and  to  deafen  as  many  as 
possible,  he  could  not  have  forewarned  his  disciples  of  greater  dan- 
gers and  distresses.  "  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's 
sake."  How  are  we  to  account  for  this  issue.?  He  gave  them 
power  against  unclean  spirits,  and  he  sent  the  disciples  forth  to 
cast   them   out,    and   to   heal   all   manner   of  sickness,    and   all 


MATTHEW  X.   24-42.  153 

manner  of  disease,  and  to  preach,  saying,  "  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand,"  and  then  he  added,  with  an  abruptness 
which  must  receive  some  profound  explanation,  "  Ye  shall  be 
hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake."  Where  is  the  balance 
between  the  men  and  the  fate  ?  I  repeat,  had  he  sent  forth  his  dis- 
ciples to  break  up  the  world,  to  diminish  its  joys,  to  add  to  its  dis- 
tresses, he  could  hardly  have  painted  a  more  tragical  issue.  He 
sent  them  forth  on  a  beneficent  errand,  and  told  them  that  they 
should  be  brought  before  governors  and  kings,  be  cast  into  prison, 
be  called  Beelzebub,  and  be  forsaken  and  hated  of  all  men  for  his 
name's  sake.  Herein  once  more  is  the  statesmanship  of  that 
wondrous  Peasant,  and  herein  do  I  find  his  Godhead.  Not  in  the 
small  grammatical  clevernesses  of  the  Biblical  exegete,  but  in  these 
disclosures  of  his  shrewdness,  of  his  insight,  the  penetration  that 
pierced  everything,  and  saw  essences  and  realities,  and  the  vital 
parts  and  secrets  of  all  things.  Who  but  himself  could  have  seen 
that  the  casting  out  of  devils,  the  cleansing  of  lepers,  the  giving 
sight  to  the  blind  and  hearing  to  the  deaf,  and  the  preaching  of 
the  nearness  of  a  new  kingdom  could  have  ended  in  scourgings 
and  contempt,  and*  hatred  and  death  }  But  his  forecast  has  been 
abundantly  established  by  facts. 

Jesus  Christ  knew  that  there  are  men  who  will  never  allow  good 
to  be  done,  if  they  can  help  it,  by  any  method  but  their  own. 
There  are  men  who  would  rather  see  you  damned  than  see  you 
saved  by  irregular  means.  They  would  rather  have  you  lost  in 
what  they  would  term  an  orthodox  manner,  than  see  you  saved 
by  a  method  which  to  them  would  seem  to  be  heterodox  or  hereti- 
cal. They  would  like  their  own  little  prophecies  confirmed  ;  they 
do  not  want  their  conceptions,  low  as  a  ceiling,  heightened  into  a 
sky  ;  they  do  not  want  their  little  conceptions  of  fellowship,  nar- 
row as  the  walls  of  a  man-built  house,  widened  out  until  they 
touch  God's  horizon. 

This  was  the  principle  which  Jesus  Christ  proceeded  on  in  de- 
livering his  charge.  He  told  his  disciples  they  would  everywhere 
meet  the  diabolical  spirit  of  sectarianism  ;  they  were  irregular, 
\hey  were  nomadic,  they  were  persons  who  had  not  upon  them  the 
usual  seal,  they  did  not  bear  upon  their  arms  the  accustomed 
badge,  and  though  they  might  have  good  in  their  heads,  good  in 
their  hearts,  good  in  every  tone  of  their  speech,   they  would  be 


154  CONSOLATION  IN  STORE. 

hated  of  all  men.  Let  us  beware  of  the  sectarian  spirit ;  it  blinds 
us  to  the  excellences  that  are  beyond  our  little  boundaries  ;  let  us 
say  with  Paul,  "  Some  preach  Christ  in  one  way,  some  preach  him 
in  another  ;  whether  in  pretence  or  in  truth,  Christ  is  preached. 
Therein,"  said  the  grand  old  prisoner,  "  do  I  rejoice  ;  yea,  and 
will  rejoice."     Is  the  Pauline  spirit  dead  .? 

As  we  have  read  this  chapter  you  must  have  been  struck  with 
the  number  of  times  the  word  therefore  recurs.  If  would  seem  as 
if  nearly  every  other  verse  was  a  statement  of  some  logical  sequence. 
There  is  a  deep  logical  sequence  in  the  fact,  that  as  the  warning 
was  given  beforehand,  so  the  consolation  was  laid  up  in  store. 
Jesus  Christ  set  forth  the  whole  case  ;  he  told  his  disciples  what  to 
expect  alike  from  man  and  from  God.  And  this  is  precisely  what 
he  tells  every  one  of  his  followers  to-day.  Jesus  Christ — regard- 
ing him  now  as  nothing  more  than  the  greatest  of  statesmen — said 
to  himself,  ' '  These  poor  little  children  (for  they  were  little  better) 
must  be  delivered  from  the  peril  of  surprise.  Things  must  not 
happen  suddejtly  to  immature  minds.  I  must  go  before  them,  and 
give  them  the  outline  of  the  whole  course.  They  must  not  come 
back  when  they  have  accomplished  their  journey,  expressing  any 
surprise  at  the  greatness  of  the  difficulty.  When  they  do  come 
back  it  must  be  with  the  surprise  of  joy."  To  that  surprise  he 
sets  no  period.  It  is  his  plan  that  no  man  shall  ever  come  back 
to  Christ  and  say,  ' '  Thou  didst  not  teH  me  half  the  peril,  and  thy 
description  of  the  burning,  cutting  pain  was  understated. ' '  No  ; 
he  said,  ' '  Ye  shall  be  brought  up  in  the  synagogues  and  scourged 
there,  and  the  scourge  shall  cut  your  flesh  and  find  the  bone,  and 
ye  shall  be  brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  name's 
sake,  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men."  This  was  not  a  Man 
who  tempted  a  few  disciples  by  vivid  pictures  highly  coloured,  and 
glowing  promises.  He  told  them  they  were  going  into  a  black 
tunnel,  and  at  every  step  an  enemy  would  endeavour  to  seize  him, 
but  he  also  said,  "In  the  midst  of  that  dark  and  terrible  valley 
God's  revelations  will  flame  upon  you,  and  many  an  angel  will 
surprise  you  into  sudden  and  ecstatic  joy."  We  know  the  future 
perfectly  well.  All  its  great  broad  lines  are  drawn  in  a  manner 
which  cannot  be  misunderstood — trouble  and  joy,  tears  and  de- 
lights, the  grave  and  the  bright  heaven  are  all  before  us — not  in 
detail,   indeed,   for  no  man  knows  the  hour  of  his  death  :  it  is 


MATTHEW  X.   24-42.  155 


enough  for  me  that  I  know  I  must  die  ;  the  day  and  the  hour 
hath  no  man  known — they  are  hidden  in  heaven.  Jesus  Christ 
gives  his  disciples  the  infinite  consolation  of  knowing  that  when 
they  suffer  the  Master  suffers  along  with  them.  "  The  disciple  is 
not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  Lord.  It  is 
enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  Master  and  the  servant  as 
his  Lord.  If  they  have  called  the  Master  of  the  house  Beelzebub, 
how  much  more  shall  they  call  them  of  his  household .?' '  No 
blow  falls  upon  you  that  does  not  also  fall  upon  your  Lord  and 
Master.  Your  tears  flow  through  his  eyes.  We  have  not  an 
High  Priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmi- 
ties ;  he  knows  what  the  force  of  temptation  is,  for  he  has  felt  its 
entire  strain  upon  his  ov/n  beating  heart.  It  is  something  for  the 
private  soldier  to  know  that  he  is  fighting  side  by  side  with  his 
General  ;  there  is  something  in  such  companionship  that  amounts 
almost  to  an  inspiration.  I  suffer  less  when  I  suffer  in  certain 
society.  The  very  pain  that  would  distress  me  if  I  were  in  society 
that  I  hold  in  contempt  lifts  me  up  into  a  new  strength  when  I  en- 
dure it  in  association  with  men  whose  names  are  the  inspiration  of 
history  and  the  hope  of  the  world.  What  more  could  he  have 
said  than  that  "  Whoever  undervalues  you  undervalues  me  :  the 
insult  is  not  meant  for  you  ;  it  is  meant  for  your  Master.  When 
they  spit  upon  your  face  they  mean  to  spit  upon  mine.  They 
could  despise  you  from  a  social  point  of  view  ;  from  the  point  of 
view  of  rabbinical  learning  and  culture  they  could  hold  you  in  in- 
effable contempt ;  but  it  is  through  you  that  they  see' me  :  when 
they  scourge  you  it  is  upon  my  flesh  that  the  thong  falls  T '  If  the 
men  heard  these  words  right  they  must  have  been  ennobled  for  the 
occasion.  In  proportion  to  their  love  for  their  Master  would  be 
their  joy  in  thinking  that  they  should  suffer  anything  in  his  name, 
and  afterwards  men  went  out  of  the  presence  of  the  council  rejoic- 
ing that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame  for  his  name. 
That  was  the  heroic  age  of  the  Church,  when  men  lived  in  God, 
and  represented  the  very  sun  of  the  divine  image. 

When  we  suffer  alone  we  get  no  advantage  out  of  the  suffering — 
we  must  offend  CHRIST  ;  when  we  think  we  are  suffering  alone 
we  go  contrary  to  his  whole  teaching,  for  he  says,  ' '  Whoso  receiv- 
eth  him  I  send  receiveth  me  ;  whoso  believeth  on  me,  believeth 
not  on  me  but  on  him  that  sent  me.     As  my  Father  hath  sent  me 


156  SUFFERING  FOR   CHRIST. 

even  so  I  send  you.  He  that  despiseth,  despiseth  not  man,  but 
God. ' '  This  is  the  root  out  of  which  all  consolation  comes.  We 
do  not  suffer  alone  ;  we  have  a  fellow-sufferer.  Whenever  you  are 
laughed  at  because  of  your  Christianity,  if  it  be  real,  simple,  true, 
noble,  honest,  and  healthy,  the  laugh  is  at  the  cross.  Whenever 
you  suffer,  which  few  men  now  do,  for  your  faith's  sake,  it  is  not 
you  that  suffer — the  Son  of  God  is  crucified  afresh  and  put  to  an 
open  shame.  Let  us  take  care  lest  we  mistake  this  matter  of 
suffering  in  Christ's  stead.  Sometimes  we  suffer  for  our  errors  and 
not  for  our  truth,  for  our  impertinence  and  not  for  our  fidelity,  for 
our  selfishness  and  not  for  the  divine  breadth  of  our  character- 
building.  If,  therefore,  we  suffer  on  our  own  account,  I  wonder 
not  that  the  pain  should  be  sharp  and  intolerable  ;  but  in  so  far 
as  our  character  and  spirit  and  action  are  right,  and  we  suffer,  it  is 
not  we  that  suffer  only  ;  it  is  the  Son  of  God  whose  face  is  smit- 
ten and  whose  heart  is  bruised. 

Jesus  Christ  goes  even  further  than  this,  for  he  connects  the 
whole  mission  of  the  Church  expressly  with  the  Father.  It  is  God 
himself  that"  suffers,  and  it  is  God  that  identifies  himself  with  the 
whole  purpose  and  issue  of  the  Christian  economy.  When  the  dis- 
ciples were  speaking  in  their  own  defence,  Jesus  Christ  told  them, 
"  It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  spirit  of  your  Father  which  speak- 
cth  in  you. "  "A  sparrow, ' '  said  Christ,  ' '  cannot  fall  to  the  ground 
without  your  Father."  So  the  universe  is  one  ;  no  man  can  touch 
the  truth  without  touching  the  whole  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  no  man 
can  injure  a  single  truth  without  injuring  the  whole  quantity 
called  truth,  for  the  truth  is  not  a  question  of  single  filaments  and 
threads,  particles  and  details  :  the  truth  is  one.  Indissoluble,  and 
to  touch  it  to  the  injury  of  any  part  of  it  is  to  touch  it  to  the  pain 
of  its  very  heart. 

The  universe  is  one  :  some  of  us  worship  in  one  place  and  some 
in  another  ;  but  to  God  there  is  no  space  that  can  be  mapped  out 
in  separate  localities.  He  filleth  all  in  all.  If  you  are  not  against 
him  you  are  on  his  side.  Therein  have  I  sometimes  endeavoured 
to  teach  men  that  though  they  be  not  nominally  in  Christ  they 
may  be  under  the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit.  Men  know  not  what 
they  do  even  when  they  put  the  Son  of  God  to  shame.  There  is  a 
forgiveness  that  may  follow  their  blasphemy  ;  there  is  in  heaven  a 
consideration  for  human  ignorance,  though  that  ignorance  culmi- 


MATTHEW    X.   .4-42.  157 


nate  in  the  tragedy  of  Gethsemane  and  Golgotha.  Truth,  let  me 
say  again  and  again,  is  one  as  the  universe  is  one.  There  is 
nothing  despicable  or  contemptible  ;  the  fall  of  the  sparrow  is 
watched,  and  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  God 
putteth  our  tears  in  his  bottle,  and  he  writes  our  names  in  his 
book  of  life.  Sacred  universe,  sensitive  universe  ;  if  I  lift  a  hand 
I  send  a  shudder  to  the  stars. 

So  my  whole  thought  and  wish  and  purpose  and  prayer — what 
are  these  but  so  many  vibrations  that  tell  upon  lines  that  do  not 
come  within  my  purview,  and  that  stir  influences  which  I  can 
neither  understand  nor  control  ?  So  Jesus  Christ  identifies  him- 
self with  his  disciples,  and  identifies  himself  and  his  disciples  with 
the  Father  that  is  in  heaven.  It  is  one  Church,  one  life,  one  tem- 
ple, and  to  touch  it  at  any  point  is  to  cause  an  influence  to  be  felt 
throughout  the  whole  living  faculty.  These  are  not  tiny  solaces, 
these  are  not  little  plasters  for  little  wounds  :  these  great  solaces 
are  redemptions  ;  they  enter  the  very  secret  place  of  the  life  ;  they 
do  not  evaporate  in  the  sun — they  feed  the  very  soul. 

Another  consolation  you  find  in  the  words,  ' '  He  that  endureth 
to  the  end  shall  be  saved."  There  is  where  so  many  of  us  may 
fail  :  we  endure  a  little  while  ;  the  seed  springs  up  speedily,  and 
because  there  is  no  deepness  of  earth  soon  withers  away.  This  is 
not  a  question  of  enduring  for  a  little  time  ;  it  is  a  question  of  en- 
during to  the  end.  The  end — who  can  tell  when  that  shall  come  .? 
Life  is  full  of  endings — life  is  full  of  beginnings.  Knowing  how 
distressed  we  are  by  monotony  God  has  taken  care  in  the  econ- 
om)'  of  the  universe  that  there  shall  be  little  or  none  of  it.  So  he 
has  broken  up  our  life  into  day  and  night,  the  beginning  of  the 
week  and  the  end  of  the  same,  the  day  of  birth,  the  day  of  mar- 
riage, the  day  of  peculiar  joy — so  many  beginnings  are  there  to 
tempt  us  into  new  views  and  lure  us  into  deeper  resolutions  and 
give  us  fresh  chances  in  life,  and  yet  all  these  beginnings  and  end- 
ings culminate  in  one  supreme  finality — no  man  carnell  when  it 
may  be  :  my  end  may  be  this  day.  It  is  well  we  do  not  know 
when  the  final  point  comes  into  the  literature  of  life. 

"  He  that  endureth  to  the  end."  Paul  did.  He  said,  "  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course. ' '  Weary  not 
in  well  doing,  for  in  due  season  ye  shall  reap  if  ye  faint  not. 
Jesus  Christ  himself  said,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou 


IS8  FINALLY  SAVED. 


gavest  me  to  do. ' '  And  again  he  said,  "  It  is  finished. ' '  Take 
care  lest  you  come  almost  to  land,  take  care  lest  you  be  almost 
saved.  The  old  Puritan  divine,  the  Shakespeare  of  the  pulpit  of 
his  day,  wound  up  one  of  his  grandest  appeals  to  his  people  by 
saying,  ' '  To  be  almost  saved  is  to  be  altogether  damned. ' '  Take 
care  lest  you  be  almost  in  possession,  and  yet  fail  of  clasping 
within  your  glad  hand  that  after  which  you  have  been  aspiring. 
Let  us  endeavour  to  the  last  hour.  To  fail  within  sight  of  the 
prize,  to  perish  within  sight  of  land,  to  be  able  to  hear  the  wel- 
comes that  ring  from  the  shore,  and  yet  not  to  land  there — Oh, 
that  is  painful  beyond  realisation. 

I  shall  never  forget  how,  recently,  we  approached  the  city  of  our 
desire.  The  day  before  the  rain  had  been  continuous,  and  the 
mists  afterwards  very  thick,  and  there  was  a  sudden  fear  in  the 
minds  of  men.  Then  came  out  the  evening  sun,  and  touched  up 
all  the  sullen  clouds  into  a  very  apocalypse  of  glory  and  beauty.  I 
never  saw  such  a  sign  in  all  the  heavens,  that  are  full  of  pictures 
to  the  eye  that  searches  for  them.  We  moved  on  through  the 
water,  and  the  day  of  landing  came,  and  when  persons  saw  their 
friends  in  the  near  distance,  there  was  much  signal  giving  and 
signal  exchanging.  One  young  boy  came  to  me  with  his  eyes 
alight  and,  to  explain  his  joy,  he  said,  "  I  see  my  father."  I 
heard  a  lady  say,  ' '  I  see  my  brown-eyes. ' '  I  heard  another  say, 
"  I  see  my  sister."  Was  it  possible  to  fail  just  then — to  fail 
within  a  few  minutes  of  the  landing-place — to  be  lost  before  hands 
were  grasped  in  the  reunion  of  grateful  affection  } 

Take  care  :  we  are  going  towards  the  end,  but  we  may  not  ac- 
complish it  ;  God  give  us  strength  to  fulfil  every  mile  of  the  road, 
and  to  fight  the  last  battle,  and  to  pluck  the  sting  from  the  last 
enemy.  It  is  the  end  that  determines  everything.  The  goodliest 
ship  may  go  down  in  sight  of  port.  Oh,  may  we — many  of 
whose  ships  are  not  good,  much  tried,  storm-beaten,  creaking 
because  of  weakness — may  we  all  be  brought  in,  and  so  at  last — 

"  O'er  life's  rough  ocean  driven, 
May  we  rejoice,  no  wanderer  lost, 
Whole  families  in  heaven  !" 

Ye  did  run  well ;  who  did  hinder  you  .?  Are  you  going  to  give 
up  now  .''  Say,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  we  will  continue  in  patient 
well-doing  till  we  have  accomplished  our  days  upon  the  earth." 


XLV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  do  thou  now  come  to  us,  and,  according  to  the  necessity 
of  our  heart,  grant  thy  blessing  unto  us — every  one.  We  are  often  weary 
and  often  are  we  disquieted  by  reason  of  the  length  and  hardness  of  the 
road  of  life  ;  but  thou  hast  provided  for  us  all  that  we  need  as  we  pass 
from  mile  to  mile  of  the  dreary  sand.  We  look  up  unto  thee  with  a  look  that 
is  meant  to  be  a  cry,  a  prayer,  an  expectation,  and  we  wait  upon  thee  with 
a  patience  that  is  as  sacred  and  dear  as  a  precious  hope.  Thou  dost  not 
disappoint  the  eyes  that  look  towards  the  hills  whence  all  true  help  cometh. 
Thou  dost  surprise  those  who  wait  upon  thee,  but  never  with  the  littleness 
of  thy  replies,  always  with  the  depth  and  breadth  and  graciousness  of  thine 
infinite  answers.  Thou  dost  ask  us  to  open  our  mouths  wide  and  thou 
wilt  fill  them  :  thou  dost  evermore  encourage  us  to  bring  large  petitions 
to  thee,  for  they  who  cry  unto  the  Omnipotent  for  help  cannot  ask  too 
much  from  the  arm  that  is  almighty. 

Thy  grace  is  very  sweet — sweet  as  honey  ;  yea,  sweeter  than  the  honey- 
comb ;  and  the  more  the  bitterness  of  our  life,  the  sweeter  the  solaces  of  thy 
love.  Enable  us  to  receive  thy  promises  in  all  the  fulness  of  their  meaning, 
in  all  their  ineffable  graciousness,  and  may  no  spirit  of  hesitation  or  scepti- 
cism interpose  to  hinder  our  enjoyment  of  the  infinite  inheritance  of  grace 
which  thou  hast  provided  for  thy  children.  We  own  that  we  often  live  in 
a  cloud  ;  many  a  time  we  are  uncertain  of  our  standing,  our  senses  mis- 
lead the  soul  ;  we  mistake  things  near  for  things  great,  and  things  in  the 
hand  we  mistake  as  precious.  Give  us  the  seeing  eye,  the  hearing  ear, 
the  true  spirit  of  discernment,  that  we  may  look  upon  things  not  seen  and 
eternal,  and  that  by  the  power  of  an  endless  life  we  may  triumph  in  con- 
quest over  all  the  temptations  and  besetments  of  time. 

Every  heart  brings  its  own  song,  every  life  is  as  a  censer  swung  around 
thine  altar  to-day,  filled  with  the  incense  of  a  pure  offering.  The  Lord 
hear  every  tribute  of  praise,  the  Lord  himself  receive  our  sacrifice  as  one 
that  is  well  pleasing,  and  return  upon  us  from  his  broad  heavens  all  the 
light  and  grace  we  need. 

If  we  speak  of  our  sin  our  tongue  shall  cleave  unto  the  roof  of  our 
mouth,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  strength  in  our  joints  ;  we  shall  tremble 
and  stagger  and  die  before  thee.  Our  sin  is  blacker  than  night,  our  iniqui- 
ties are  more  in  number  than  the  sands  upon  the  sea-shore,  but  we  now  lis- 
ten to  thy  gospel,  and  it  is  adapted  to  all  our  iniquity.  Thine  is  the  gospel 
to  the  lost  ;  thine  is  a  cry  to  those  who  have  gone  astray  ;  thy  cross,  O 


i6o  A   MISSIONARY  CAMPAIGN. 

Man  of  Sorrows,  the  wounded  of  Gethsemane  and  the  dying  Man  of 
Golgotha,  is  lifted  up,  not  for  error  and  infirmity  and  weakness  but  for 
the  sin  of  the  world.  We  are  sinners  ;  we  say  so  with  bowed  heads  ;  we 
mix  no  words  of  defence  with  our  confession  ;  we  mourn  and  lament  our 
iniquities  ;  nor  do  we  seek  to  mitigate  in  thy  sight  the  aggravation  of  our 
offences.  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  thy  Son  cleanseth  from  all  sin  :  this 
is  our  eternal  hope,  this  is  our  perpetual  joy. 

We  desire  to  be  led  into  all  truth  ;  dispossess  us  of  every  evil  spirit,  slay 
utterly  with  thy  sword  of  light  every  prejudice  and  everything  in  our  nature 
that  would  hide  from  us  the  true  shining  of  thy  sun.  Help  us  to  love  one 
another,  to  pity  one  another's  weaknesses,  and  to  magnify  one  another's 
virtues. 

Where  it  is  possible  to  clasp  hands  in  the  union  of  intelligent  and  sincere 
fellowship  may  every  man  eagerly  embrace  the  opportunity  of  attesting  the 
common  brotherhood. 

Help  us  in  all  the  difficulties  of  life  ;  we  will  not  ourselves  meddle  with 
them  ;  we  wait  the  inspiring  spirit  ;  we  abide  the  all-illuminating  light  ;  we 
will  quiet  ourselves  in  the  peace  of  God.  Visit  our  sick-chambers  to-day, 
'^eellte  father  or  the  mother  languishing  and  dying,  the  little  child  bidding 
JSj^remature  farewell  to  the  earth  of  which  it  knows  nothing.  Look  upon 
the  families  in  whose  households  there  is  a  great  shadow,  a  ghastly  spectrC; 
a  noise  without  words  to  express  its  awful  meaning. 

The  Lord  save  every  man  who  is  trying  to  be  better  and  to  do  better  ; 
the  Lord  send  sweet  gospels  like  singing  angels  into  his  heart,  to  cheer 
him  and  inspire  him  with  immortal  hope. 

Lord  help  us  every  one  ;  our  days  are  a  handful,  and  they  are  counted 
for  us  by  men  who  reckon  numbers  ;  may  we  remember  how  small  is  the 
span  of  our  life,  how  little  and  frail  our  tenure  upon  our  present  earthly 
existence  ;  and,  remembering  all  these  things,  and  remembering  too  our 
all  but  infinite  capacity  for  doing  wrong,  may  we  hasten  to  the  cross,  may 
we  all  be  found  at  the  cross,  may  our  home  be  at  the  cross,  may  the  cen- 
tre of  our  life  be  the  cross,  and  God  forbid  that  we  should  glory,  save  in 
the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  WHOLE  CHARGE. 
Matthew  10  {continued). 

A  GREAT  missionary  campaign  was  proposed  :  Jesus  Christ 
himself  proposed  it.  Now  what  was  his  idea  of  such  a 
novel  campaign  .?  This  is  the  largest  thing  he  has  yet  attempted, 
we  may  therefore  naturally  expect  to  gather  from  it  some  hint  of  his 
intellectual  quality.  How  does  he  address  himself  to  great  under- 
takings }  What  was  his  intellectual  energy,  what  his  moral  tone, 
what  his  propagandist  audacity  ?     How  will  he  grip  a  great  occa- 


MATTHEW  X.  24-42.  161 

sion  ?  In  studying  the  Temptation  we  thought  we  could  dis- 
cover from  his  answers  the  quahty  of  his  character,  as  from  the 
devil's  questions  we  formed  a  deduction  as  to  the  devil's  nature. 
Now  from  this  great  and  luminous  Charge,  addressed  to  twelve 
men  in  view  of  a  missionary  campaign,  it  is  possible  we  may  be 
able  to  gather  something  further  concerning  the  intellectual  and 
moral  purpose  of  the  Son  of  God.  To  this  study  I  now  invite 
you. 

First  of  all,  Jesus  Christ  sent  forth  his  disciples  tivo  and  two. 
That  was  a  shrewd  and  gracious  arrangement.  He  might  have 
covered  double  the  ground  if  he  had  sent  them  out  one  by  one. 
It  was  not  his  purpose  in  the  outset  to  cover  much  ground  ;  he 
was  more  careful  at  the  beginning  about  the  men  and  the  strength 
and  utility  of  their  service  than  about  the  mere  acreage  of  surface 
which  he  was  to  cover.  In  due  time  he  will  lay  his  hand  upon 
the  whole  world  ;  but  it  is  early  morning  now,  the  dawn  is  just 
beginning  to  make  the  eastern  sky  a  little  grey,  and  at  the  outset 
he  says,  ' '  You  must  go  out  two  and  two.  The  lonely  heart  is 
soon  discouraged  ;  two  are  better  than  one,  for  if  they  fall  one  will 
lift  up  his  fellow,  but  woe  to  him  who  is  alone  when  he  falleth. 
That  was  an  ancient  proverb  :  it  was  within  the  pen  of  Solomon  to 
write  that  wise  word,  and  it  comes  within  the  range  of  Jesus 
Christ's  purpose  to  take  up  our  little  common  proverbs  and  to  give 
their  religious  applications  and  religious  securities. 

Not  only  did  Jesus  Christ  send  forth  his  disciples  two  and  two, 
but  each  two  made  up  something  like  one  whole.  It  was  as  if  he 
had  put  together  hemispheres,  and  thus  made  a  complete  globe  of 
character  and  service.  Look  at  the  names.  Peter  and  Andrew. 
Peter,  full  of  fire,  daring,  passion,  enthusiasm,  an  impetuous  man 
with  a  strange  faculty  of  leaping  and  making  beginnings  of  things 
without  any  certamty  that  he  would  ever  continue  them  to  their 
completion.  Andrew — his  very  name  is  a  character,  his  very 
name  is  a  certificate.  If  he  be  other  than  a  man  he  will  be  a  living 
irony,  for  his  name  means — man,  and  he  was  manly  in  all  his 
conceptions  and  movements.  He  was  as  one  who  broke  up  the 
way  with  a  strong  hammer.  They  will  do  well  together,  these 
two — probably  they  will  not  fall  out  by  the  way. 

The  next  couple — James  and  John.     James  is  elsewhere  called 


l62  MISSIONARY  COMPANIONSHIP. 

a  son  of  thunder — a  great  rousing,  violent  voice  that  came  in 
shocks  and  claps  and  bursts,  and  John  was  idealistic,  contempla- 
tive ;  his  eyes  often  settled  into  a  calm,  dreamy  wonder,  and  his 
whole  face  looking  as  if  his  eyes  were  fastened  on  God's  great  eter- 
nity. There  will  be  no  occasion  of  difference  between  two  such 
men  ;  they  are  well  mated.  This  also  cometh  forth  from  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel  and  excellent  in  working. 

The  next  couple — Simon  Zelotes,  Simon  the  zealot,  Simon  the 
hot  coal,  Simon  the  fervent  man,  all  fire,  clothed  with  zeal  as  with 
a  garment,  and  Judas  Iscariot,  cold,  calculating,  shrewd,  repre- 
senting the  secularistic,  administrative,  executive  side  of  things. 
If  any  man  could  go  with  Judas,  Simon  is  the  man  to  accompany 
him  ;  if  Judas  can  be  trusted  in  any .  company,  it  was  well  to 
bind  him  to  the  fire.  If  there  is  purification  and  disinfection  to  be 
had  anywhere  it  is  in  the  red  flame — so  potent  is  fire. 

What  think  ye  of  Christ }  He  did  not  allow  the  men  to  go  out 
two  and  two  just  as  they  pleased,  but  two  and  two  as  he  pleased. 
He  setteth  the  stars  in  their  places  ;  he  fixeth  the  bounds  of  our 
habitation  ;  there  is  a  balance  in  his  hand,  and  he  goes  into  the 
detail  of  every  economy  he  administers.  The  very  hairs  of  your 
head  are  all  numbered,  and  he  who  watches  the  night  lamps  of  the 
heavens  watches  the  small  birds  that  fall  upon  the  earth.  We  may 
repeat,  therefore,  that  in  this  arrangement  there  was  at  once  great 
shrewdness  and  great  grace.  Is  it  not  a  fact  well  attested  amongst 
ourselves  that  some  men  ought  never  to  be  thrown  into  association 
with  one  another.?  Each  of  the  men  is  good,  but  they  ought 
never  to  have  come  into  nominal  union.  They  do  not  understand 
one  another,  they  are  out  of  sympathy  and  rapport,  they  cannot 
comprehend  one  another' s  purposes  and  impulses,  they  are,  per- 
haps, too  much  alike  to  be  agreeable  the  one  to  the  other,  or  there 
may  be  something  about  their  dissimilarity  which  does  not  admit 
of  immediate  reconciliation  ;  there  is  a  want  of  adaptation  between 
the  two,  and  yet  the  character  of  each  may  be  excellent.  Matches 
are  made  in  heaven  in  the  widest  sense.  God  knows  all  about  the 
law  of  harmonies  and  companionships,  and  he  is  the  wise  man 
who  waits  till  the  colleague  is  found  in  heaven.  I  ask  you,  there- 
fore, in  the  beginning  of  this  study,  to  estimate  this  arrangement  as 
affording  some  illustration  of  the  compass  of  mind  which  proposed 
this  great  missionary  campaign. 


MATTHEW  X.  24-42.  163 

The  next  point  which  is  illustrative  of  the  character  of  Christ  is 
in  the  fact  that  he  impoverished  the  disciples  materially,  and  en- 
riched them  to  infinitude  of  redundance  spiritually.  Never  was 
master  so  severe  with  servant  as  to  all  material  possessions  and 
equipments.  Christ's  charge  was  a  process  of  stripping  in  the  first 
instance.  No  man  was  to  have  two  coats  or  two  staves  ;  he  was 
to  take  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  his  purse  ;  everything 
that  could  be  taken  from  a  man  was  stripped  from  him  by  the  very 
hand  that  sent  him  forth.  There  was  no  encouragement  on  the 
material  side  ;  no  bribe,  allurement,  inducement,  or  promise  was 
given  on  the  side  that  was  purely  secular  and  worldly.  And  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  to  the  enrichment  of  the  men,  why,  all 
heaven  was  placed  at  their  disposal  spiritually.  They  were  to  have 
inspiration,  speech,  comfort,  at  every  point ;  nothmg  was  with- 
held from  them  that  could  give  them  solace  and  ennoblement  and 
quietude  and  the  positive  triumph  of  security.  He  was  a  states- 
man, he  took  a  view  that  was  bounded  only  by  horizons,  his  plan 
was  a  firmament.  Our  little  plans  are  broken  arcs  of  his  great 
circle.  We  are  indebted  even  for  the  little  arcs  we  draw  to  the 
great  circle  which  he  described.  Remember  there  was  no  mis- 
sionary society  when  Jesus  Christ  uttered  this  charge  ;  there  was 
nothing  to  go  by  ;  there  was  no  hint  in  any  human  mind  of  such 
a  scheme  as  this.  We  must  therefore  divest  ourselves  of  all  the 
conceptions  and  prejudices  which  they  have  gathered  throughout 
nineteen  centuries,  and  set  ourselves  at  the  chronological  point  of 
Christ's  planning  and  thinking,  if  we  would  rightly  estimate  his 
method  of  spreading  a  Christian  gospel. 

In  the  case  of  Christ,  poverty  was  to  become  a  kind  of  holiness. 
To  have  two  coats  was  to  break  a  vow,  to  have  two  staves  was  to  be 
suspected  of  disloyalty,  to  have  a  look  of  having  anything  of  your 
own  was  to  be  brought  under  the  suspicion  of  distrust  in  God. 
Outward  grandeur  would  have  clashed  with  spiritual  nobleness  and 
aspiration.  To  make  the  case  clearer  upon  that  side,  Jesus  Christ 
not  only  stripped  the  disciples  of  everything  in  the  form  of  an  en- 
cumbrance, but  he  further  depressed  the  materialistic  side  by  tell- 
ing them  that  they  would  have  blows,  taunts,  insults,  scourgings, 
hatred  of  all  men  for  his  name's  sake.  This  was  a  tremendous 
depression  of  the  material  side,  an  infinite  discouragement  to  Judas 
Iscariot.     It  is  the  same  to-day. 


i64  CHRIST  CLAIMS  DIVINE  HOMAGE. 

What  think  ye  of  this  Man  ?  We  move  by  making  great  promises, 
■we  inspire  by  bribing,  we  encourage  by  enriching,  in  a  material 
and  physical  sense.  But  Jesus  Christ  stripped  every  man  of  the 
twelve  of  everything  that  looked  like  encumbrance,  or  ornament, 
or  personal  security,  and  sent  him  forth  with  nothing  hvX—God. 
His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  his  masonry  was  not  a  build- 
ing up  with  stone,  his  purpose  was  a  great  spiritual  one,  and  evi- 
dently, from  this  very  inception  of  his  plan,  he  means  the  spiritual- 
ity of  his  kingdom  to  be  distinctly  revealed  to  every  eye.  The 
kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation,  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  not  a  material  success,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within. 

Then  look,  in  the  third  place,  at  the  kind  of  homage  which  he 
claimed.  It  was  preposterous,  if  not  divine.  There  was  no  other 
name  for  it  than  the  name  that  describes  its  ridiculousness,  if  it 
was  not  a  divine  claim.  Father  and  mother  must  go,  sister  and 
brother  must  be  surrendered,  houses  and  land  must  be  abandoned, 
the  world    reduced  to  one  pair  of  sandals  and  one  stout  staff. 

He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of 
me.  He  that  loveth  sister  or  brother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy 
of  me.  Except  a  man  hate  his  father  and  his  mother  in  com- 
parison with  me,  he  is  not  worthy  of  me.  He  that  taketh  not  up 
his  cross  daily  is  not  worthy  of  me. ' '  He  himself  was  the  one  in- 
spiration of  the  disciples,  his  name  the  only  name  they  knew  or 
*were  called  upon  to  breathe  ;  this  was  the  homage  he  demanded 
— no  oath  in  mere  words,  no  vow  spoken  into  the  vacant  air,  to 
be  lost  in  its  ample  spaces,  but  direct,  positive,  complete  surren- 
der. I  do  not  ask  you  to  form  any  opinion  of  the  homage  itself 
at  this  moment,  but  to  form  your  estimate  of  a  man  who,  in  order- 
ing twelve  men  to  do  a  work,  says  that  if  he  is  not  supreme  beyond 
father,  mother,  sister,  brother,  houses,  land,  any  man  who  pro- 
fesses to  do  his  work  does  it  with  hireling  fingers,  with  a  mercenary 
and  dishonourable  soul. 

It  was  a  bold  claim,  and  it  was  most  graphically  expressed. 
This  was  not  the  way  in  which  an  impostor  would  have  moved  ;  he 
would  have  sought  by  guile,  and  promise,  and  bribe,  by  all  the 
tricks  known  to  imposture,  to  have  endeared  these  men  to  the 
cause  he  wished  to  propagate.  But  the  impostor  has  no  cause 
which  he  wishes  to  propagate  except  the  cause  of  himself.  Jesus 
Christ  had  this  great  cause  to  propagate — the  kingdom  of  heaven, 


MATTHEW  X.  24-42.  165 

as  first  seen  in  the  cleansing  of  the  lepers,  the  healing  of  the  sick, 
the  blessing  of  the  unblest,  and  the  sending  of  a  plentiful  rain 
upon  lives  that  were  perishing  with  thirst. 

There  was  another  point  in  his  charge  that  must  reckon  in  the 
great  argument,  and  that  was  the  command  to  avoid  all  religious 
mystery,  and  monasticism,  and  jugglery,  in  founding  the  new  king- 
dom. "  What  I  tell  you  in  darkness  or  in  secrecy,  face  to  face, 
in  this  private  interview,  that  speak  ye  in  light,  and  what  ye  hear 
in  the  ear,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  housetops. ' '  There  are  no 
little  corners  and  monastic  enclosures  and  priestly  confessional 
boxes  in  this  great  kingdom  of  Christ.  This  is  no  branch  of  the 
black  art,  this  is  not  a  question  of  attainment  in  priestly  mummery 
and  symbolic  representation,  and  things  that  can  be  only  pene- 
trated and  expounded  by  the  initiated  and  the  learned.  This  is 
our  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  we  believe  it  to  be 
Christ's  own,  that  the  Book  revealing  it  is  open  to  everybody, 
that  the  Book  can  now  be  read  in  our  mother  tongue,  and  that 
every  man  is  responsible  to  God  directly  for  the  use  which  he 
makes  of  that  Book.  Herein  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  we  have  the 
truth  of  God.  You  may  know  about  it  as  much  as  I  do,  if  you 
will  attend  to  it  with  your  whole  soul,  and  study  it  with  your  whole 
affection.  I  do  not  believe  in  any  ministerial  class  ;  there  is  no 
minister  that  knows  more  or  needs  know  more  than  the  plainest 
man  in  society,  except  it  be  by  some  specialty  of  intellectual  gift, 
or  by  some  opportunity  of  closer  literal  study  ;  but  as  to  all  that  is 
essential,  substantial,  vital,  in  the  gospel,  I  would  as  lief  you  con- 
sulted the  man  who  sweeps  the  floor  of  the  church  as  consult  me 
in  my  purely  so-called  ' '  professional  ' '  capacity.  I  have  no  pro- 
fession ;  if  I  have  not  a  vocation  then  I  am  nothing  in  life.  We 
are  all  ministers  ;  some  are  speaking  ministers,  some  giving  minis- 
ters, some  sick-visiting  ministers,  some  quiet  sympathetic  minis- 
ters, but  all  the  Lord's  people  are  prophets,  and  we  are  only  in  the 
apostolic  succession  so  long  as  we  succeed  to  the  apostolic  spiril 
and  to  the  apostolic  doctrine. 

The  ministerial  class  must  be  put  down  and  discouraged  by  the 
true  spirit  of  Christian  Protestantism.  The  ministerial  class  spirit 
may  become  the  curse  of  Christendom.  I  would  have  everything 
done  in  the  light ;  I  would  have  what  is  called  a  ' '  layman' '  pre- 
side at  the  Lord's  Supper  as  certainly  as  I  would  have  any  minister 


i66  AN  INSPIRED   CHURCH. 

that  ever  was  garbed  in  the  official  clothing  of  the  Church.  Go 
directly  to  your  Bible  and  to  every  honest  man  you  can  meet,  and 
get  light  from  all  quarters,  and  know  ye  that  the  Church  does  not 
represent  some  little  secret  trick,  some  art  of  spiritual  conjuring, 
but  is  an  infinite  gospel  of  love,  welcome,  hospitality,  to  those  that 
are  lost. 

He  was  no  mean  man  who  delivered  this  great  Charge  which 
we  have  thus  from  time  to  time  read  and  studied.  He  was  a 
grand  man.  There  is  no  paltry  idea  within  the  whole  compass  of 
his  Charge.  There  is  no  heel  that  can  be  wounded  in  this  Achil- 
lean address  ;  every  word  is  sublime,  and  the  whole  purpose  is 
beneficent.  I  ask  you  to  call  this  Man  Saviour,  Lord,  King,  Priest, 
and  from  this  day  to  say  you  fall  within  the  inspiration  of  his 
charge,  and  will  be  the  soldiers  of  his  cross.  The  Church  is 
nothing  to-day  if  she  be  not  inspired.  I  will  not  listen  to  any 
toothless  old  Church  that  does  but  mumble  a  literal  creed.  The 
Church  must  lay  her  claim  upon  my  attent'on  by  her  inspiration, 
by  her  power  to  touch  my  heart's  disease,  my  life's  sharpest  pain, 
my  soul's  bitterest  accusation.  Do  not  let  us  go  forth  with  sym- 
bols and  signs  and  fine  traditions,  and  grandly  outlined  and 
highly  elaborated  faiths  and  creeds  and  professions  ;  but  let  the 
world  feel  that  we  have  an  answer  to  all  its  charges,  a  reply  to  all 
its  inquiries — 

"  A  sovereign  balm  for  every  wound, 
A  cordial  for  its  fears." 

Do  not  let  us  secrete  ourselves  in  a  corner,  huddled  together  like 
sheep,  afraid  of  a  rolling  thunder-storm,  but  let  us  be  out  every- 
where inquiring,  looking,  testing,  and  offering  our  gospel.  Let 
us  translate  it  into  every  language  ;  let  us  take  it  into  every 
society,  some  speaking  it  as  a  high  philosophy,  others  breathing  it 
as  a  gentle  blessing,  others  loving  it  as  a  high  promise  and  tender 
solace,  and  all  displaying  it  with  a  chivalrous  and  useful  consist- 
ency. Then  shall  the  Church,  though  nineteen  centuries  old,  be 
fair  as  the  sun,  clear  as  the  moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with 
banners. 


XLVI. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  art  thou  not  known  unto  us  as  a  strong  tower  ?  We 
run  unto  thee  and  are  safe  :  thou  dost  shut  the  door  and  no  hand  can  open 
it.  Thou  dost  shed  upon  our  life  a  warm  blessing  and  it  is  not  in  the 
power  of  the  enemy  to  cast  a  shadow  upon  it.  All  the  houses  thou  hast 
built  have  praised  thee,  yea  they  have  resounded  with  song  :  the  house 
of  Moses,  the  house  of  Aaron,  the  house  of  David,  and  our  house,  and  all 
the  houses  which  thine  hand  hath  built  will  praise  thee,  because  thy  mercy 
endureth  for  ever.  Thy  law  makes  us  afraid,  it  is  as  a  burning  fire 
amongst  us,  and  oftentimes  it  scorches  us  by  its  fierce  heat :  we  dare  not 
touch  it,  we  stand  back  and  are  afraid,  for  it  is  as  the  mountain  that 
might  not  be  touched  under  pain  of  death — but  thy  mercy  is  the  light  that 
is  round  about  us,  the  life  that  is  in  our  very  heart,  the  spring  and  security 
of  our  best  desires  and  our  holiest  love,  the  answer  to  our  affrightening 
sin,  and  the  lifter  up  of  the  burden  which  bruises  us  under  its  infinite 
weight.  We  come  to  thy  mercy,  we  look  to  thy  love,  we  call  upon  thy  pity, 
we  say  it  is  because  thy  compassions  fail  not,  that  we  are  not  consumed. 
Our  song  shall  be  of  mercy  and  judgment.  Thou  hast  done  tenderly  by 
us,  and  all  thy  way  has  been  as  a  path  of  gentleness.  Thou  hast  lifted  us 
up  when  we  were  cast  down,  and  when  the  darkness  was  great  and  cold, 
without  relief  or  hope,  thou  didst  shoot  into  it  thy  beams,  and  behold  it 
fell  away  before  the  gracious  assault. 

Our  life  thou  hast  created,  our  life  thou  hast  redeemed,  our  life  thou 
hast  blessed  :  thou  hast  sent  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour,  to  redeem 
our  soul  from  destruction  and  to  set  up  within  us  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
We  have  come  with  our  household  song,  with  our  family  recollections, 
with  our  personal  thanksgivings,  and  blessings  :  we  have  said  we  would 
make  a  joyful  noise  unto  the  rock  of  our  salvation.  Thou  hast  done  great 
things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad  :  thou  hast  beaten  down  the  mountain 
that  was  too  high  for  our  feet  to  climb,  thou  hast  found  a  bridge  across 
the  gulf  we  were  afraid  to  look  upon,  thou  hast  brought  together  extremi- 
ties that  had  no  relationship  within  the  compass  of  our  power,  and  thou 
hast  given  us  wells  in  the  wilderness  and  flowers  and  fruits  in  sandy  places. 
We  bless  thee,  we  magnify  thee,  we  call  for  all  instruments  that  can  assist 
our  soul  to  raise  its  loud  laudation,  that  we  may  worthily  praise  and  laud 
thy  holy  name.  May  our  hearts  henceforth  glow  with  true  love  to  God, 
may  our  soul  be  a  living  sacrifice  to  him  who  is  our  one  priest  and  only 
atonement. 


1 68  PRA  YER. 

Thou  hast  given  life  and  thou  hast  spared  life  in  the  house.  Thou  hast 
blessed  us  in  basket  and  in  store,  thou  hast  given  us  the  ready  answer  in 
the  time  of  difficulty  and  peril,  thou  hast  given  us  favour  in  the  sight  of 
those  who  opposed  us,  thou  hast  plucked  the  sword  from  the  hand  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  tooth  from  the  wolf  that  pursued.  We  will  therefore  sing 
of  thy  mercy  and  will  daily  magnify  thy  tender  grace. 

Thou  hast  caused  us  to  see  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  Some 
are  to-day  sitting  by  the  side  of  their  dead  and  wondering  concerning  the 
mysteries  of  this  universe  of  thine,  so  dark,  so  troublous,  so  alarming. 
Do  thou  come  out  of  the  cloud,  and  speak  comfortably  to  the  hearts  that 
trust  thee,  find  companionship  for  the  souls  of  those  that  are  lonely,  grant 
unto  those  whose  lot  to-day  is  bitterness,  to  feel  that  thou  art  reigning 
over  all  things,  and  hastening  all  tumults  to  final  peace,  and  bringing  the 
great  darkness  of  things  to  a  complete  and  happy  end. 

Help  thy  servants  who  are  in  the  world  all  the  week,  fighting  its  battles, 
enduring  its  cross-winds,  its  vexations  and  disappointments,  who  see  their 
schemes  torn  to  pieces  and  their  purposes  cast  down  to  the  ground.  Re- 
gard those  to  whom  their  children  are  an  affliction  by  reason  of  their  evil 
spirit  and  conduct.  Save  those  who  are  given  over  to  sighing  for  which 
there  is  no  speech.  The  Lord  look  upon  every  one  of  us  with  a  tender 
eye,  touch  every  one  of  us  with  a  healing  hand.  Bless  these  dear  little 
children  who  are  in  the  house,  the  house  which  to  them  is  a  mystery  and 
for  the  time  a  burden,  and  in  due  course  may  they  grow  to  have  within 
them  Christ,  revealed  in  all  his  beauty  and  tender  lustre. 

The  Lord  forgive  us  wherein  we  have  done  wrong  :  our  very  breathing 
has  been  sinful :  many  a  thought  has  been  an  offence  to  thee  :  our  iniqui- 
ties have  abounded  over  our  prayers  :  whilst  the  tears  of  contrition  were  in 
our  eyes  our  hands  have  sought  to  repeat  the  evil  deed.  God  be  merciful 
unto  us  sinners,and  wash  us  in  the  holy  blood, which  alone  can  cleanse  from 
all  sin.  Wherein  we  have  begrudged  one  another  prosperity,  wherein  we 
have  been  envious,  jealous,  or  filled  with  dishonourable  and  unworthy 
motive  and  purpose,  the  Lord  come  to  us  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  pardon- 
ing love.  Wherein  we  have  given  way  to  fear  and  have  served  the  devil,  and 
have  forgotten  all  thy  deliverances,  though  they  may  be  written  in  thy 
book,  the  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us,  pity  us  and  forgive  us.  From  this 
day  forward  may  we  live  the  better  life,  may  our  prayer  be  richer  and 
nobler,  may  our  service  be  healthier  and  truer,  may  our  hand  be  put  out 
to  every  good  work  with  an  earnest  desire  for  its  accomplishment. 

Bless  all  whose  purposes  are  healthy,  honest,  and  true  :  lift  up  that 
which  is  bowed  down,  break  not  the  bruised  reed,  speak  comfortably  unto 
Jerusalem,  and  say  with  thine  own  voice  that  her  iniquity  is  pardoned. 
Thus  may  the  heavens  come  down  to  the  earth,  and  the  earth  be  lifted  up 
to  the  warm  pure  heavens,  and  thus  may  we  see  face  to  face,  God  and 
Christ,  and  those  who  have  gone  before.     Amen. 


« 


MATTHEW  XI.   1-19.  -169 


Matthew  xi.  1-19. 

1.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  made  an  end  of  commanding 
his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed  thence  to  teach  and  to  preach  in  their 
cities. 

2.  Now  when  John  had  heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  Christ  (the 
only  instance  in  Matthew  in  which  this  name  occurs  by  itself),  he  sent  two 
of  his  disciples, 

3.  And  said  unto  him.  Art  thou  he  that  should  come  (the  Coming  One), 
or  do  we  look  for  another  ? 

4.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Go  and  show  John  again  those 
things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see  : 

5.  The  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are 
cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have 
the  gospel  preached  to  them  (are  evangelised). 

6.  And  blessed  is  he,  whosoever  shall  not  be  offended  (scandalised)  in 
me. 

7.  And  as  they  departed,  Jesus  began  to  say  unto  the  multitudes  con- 
cerning John,  What  went  ye  out  into  the  wilderness  to  see  ?  A  reed  shaken 
with  the  wind  ? 

8.  But  what  went  ye  out  for  to  see  ?  A  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment  ? 
behold,  they  that  wear  soft  clothing  are  in  kings'  houses. 

9.  But  what  went  ye  out  for  to  see  ?  A  prophet  ?  yea,  I  say  unto  you, 
and  more  than  a  prophet. 

10.  For  this  is  he,  of  whom  it  is  written,  Behold,  I  send  my  messenger 
before  thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before  thee. 

Ti.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Among  them  that  are  born  of  women  there 
hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist :  notwithstanding  he  that  is 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he. 

12.  And  from  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  until  now  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force  (seize  upon  it) 

13.  For  all  the  prophets  and  the  law  prophesied  until  John. 

14.  And  if  ye  will  receive  it,  this  is  Elias,  which  was  for  to  come. 

15.  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

16.  But  whereunto  shall  I  liken  this  generation  (of  Jews)  ?  It  is  like 
unto  children  sitting  in  the  markets,  and  calling  unto  their  fellows, 

17.  And  saying.  We  have  piped  unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  danced  ;  we 
have  mourned  unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  lamented. 

18.  For  John  came  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  and  they  say.  He  hath 
a  devil. 

19.  The  Son  of  man  came  eating  and  drinking,  and  they  say,  Behold  a 
man  gluttonous,  and  a  winebibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners. 
But  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children  (recognised  in  all  forms). 


I70  JOHN   THE  BAPTIST. 


CHRIST'S  ESTIMATE  OF  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. 

AND  it  came  to  pass  when  Jesus  had  made  an  end  of  com- 
manding his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed  thence  to  teach 
and  to  preach  in  their  cities."  He  sent  out  his  disciples  two  and 
two.  He  himself  goes  out  alone.  Who  could  have  gone  with 
him  ?  The  two  and  two  went  out  on  terms  of  equality  :  there 
can  be  no  equality  with  God  !  He  gave  the  commandment,  but 
he  did  not  receive  it  :  he  delivered  the  charge,  it  was  not  delivered 
to  him.  He  is  always  fountain  and  origin,  source,  beginning  and 
spring — he  was  always  alone  ;  he  longed  that  others  might  have 
been  one  with  him,  but  it  took  his  own  prayer  to  bridge  over  the 
infinite  discrepancy  between  himself  and  every  other  man. 

He  went  forth  to  preach  and  to  teach,  and  did  not  sit  at  home 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  reports  from  those  whom  he  had  sent 
out  himself.  He  did  not  say,  "  I  have  delegated  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  to  twelve  men,  and  I  will  take  my  ease  until  they  return  to 
tell  me  with  what  success  it  meets  in  the  world. ' '  He  had  been 
the  Master  giving  commandment  and  charge,  and  now  he  was 
himself  the  slave  of  slaves.  He  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  he 
took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  he  went  out  to  preach 
the  gospel  which  he  himself  had  been  putting  in  charge  of  others. 
I  would  rather  have  heard  the  Master  than  the  servant,  I  would 
have  rather  had  one  glance  of  him  than  have  spent  a  lifetime  in  the 
sight  of  the  twelve. 

But  this  is  not  his  way  :  he  was  with  us  visibly  for  a  little  while, 
and  as  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  our  sight  he  said,  ' '  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. ' '  The  Almighty 
did  not  allow  himself  long  incarnation  amongst  us  :  this  was  his 
infinite  wisdom  ;  it  would  never  have  done  to  have  looked  upon 
the  fleshly  form  longer  than  men  were  permitted  to  do.  These 
revelations  are  timed  :  God  turns  over  the  pages  lovingly,  not  arbi- 
trarily— he  knows  precisely  when  to  take  us  out  of  one  school  and 
send  us  to  another,  and  he  who  gives  himself  up  lovingly  to  the 
guidance  of  God  will  remain  in  one  Church  until  he  is  fit  for  the 
revelations  and  exhortations  of  some  broader  and  nobler  teacher. 
Yield  yourselves  to  divine  inspiration  :  keep  down  your  impatience 


MATTHEW  XT.   1-19.  171 

as  you  would  keep  down  a  wild  beast,  and  rest  peacefully,   wait- 
ingly,  patiently  upon  God. 

There  was  a  servant  in  prison  :  he  had  been  in  prison  all  the 
winter,  he  had  heard  the  revels  of  the  not  distant  court,  and  as  the 
weary  months  dragged  themselves  over  his  life  he  began  to 
wonder.  The  devil  always  takes  advantage  of  us  in  our  lower  cir- 
cumstances. He  gets  a  man  into  a  wilderness  and  tries  to  stab 
him,  he  drags  him  into  a  prison  and  tries  to  impoverish  him  of  his 
faith.  There  is  a  good  deal  in  places,  there  is  a  subtle  mystery 
about  atmospheric  influences,  there  are  points  in  space  at  which 
we  can  receive  no  temptation,  and  there  are  other  points  that  seem 
to  be  fitted  as  the  very  battlefield  of  hell. 

When  John  heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  Christ,  he  began 
to  wonder.  Consider  John's  position.  He  had  actually  pointed 
out  the  Messiah,  he  had  said,  ' '  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. ' '  Now  he  had  been  month  after 
month  in  prison.  Who  can  see  far  in  a  prison  light— who  can  see 
much  with  dungeon  walls  for  a  horizon  .?  What  poetry  is  there  in 
Herod's  pit  .!*  What  wonder  if  the  dungeon  were  diapered  with 
strange  cross-lights  and  shadows,  and  if  the  place  itself  were  vocal 
with  unholy  suggestion  .?  Some  persons  want  to  make  out  that 
the  doubting  wonder  began  in  the  disciples  of  John,  and  not  in 
John  himself.  I  cannot  read  the  text  with  that  meaning.  Possi- 
bly they  may  all  have  doubted,  but  the  message  was  sent  from 
John,  the  answer  was  returned  to  John,  and  the  after  discourse 
about  John  has  a  wondrous  suggestiveness  of  love  and  tender 
shielding  and  ample  defence  which  we  must  presently  study. 

Observe  that  John  sent  directly  to  Christ.  He  might  have  sent 
to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  he  might  have  discussed  the  question 
at  large  with  such  disciples  as  were  about  him.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  we  repeat  our  most  mischievous  errors.  Men  will  not  go  to 
Christ  himself  and  have  out  their  doubts,  suspicions,  and  wonders, 
as  it  were,  face  to  face  with  him.  That  is  where  you  have  been 
getting  wrong.  It  may  be  that  you  have  been  reading  commen- 
taries and  annotations  and  dissertations  about  Christ — go  to  him 
immediately  without  interposition  or  mediatory  influence  of  any 


172  THE  BAPTIST  ANSWERED. 

kind,  shut  yourselves  up  with  the  four  gospels,  and  with  an  honest 
heart  study  the  Man.  That  is  what  you  have  to  do.  You  have 
not  done  your  duty  when  you  have  read  a  few  verses  or  an  occa- 
sional incident — you  have  done  nothing  until  you  have  read  the 
four  gospels  clear  through,  and  have  wrought  their  narrative  and 
precepts  into  the  very  tissue  of  your  mind.  I  never  knew  a  man 
do  that  honestly,  and  reverently,  who  did  not  come  out  at  the 
other  end  with  a  great  love  in  his  heart,  with  great  tears  in  his 
eyes  ;  and  if  he  did  not  fall  down  and  worship,  he  stood  still  and 
wondered,  religiously.  History  records  the  case  of  men  who  sat 
down  to  disprove  the  Scriptures,  and  who,  in  order  to  qualify 
themselves  for  their  disproof,  honestly  read  them  through,  and 
then  dipped  their  pens  to  write  a  vindication  of  the  holy  records. 
Go  then  immediately  to  Christ,  make  yourselves  perfectly  familiar 
with  every  word  and  title  in  the  four  gospels  ;  do  not  dimly  and 
vaguely  refer  to  portions,  parts,  and  aspects  of  those  gospels,  but 
have  them  in  you  as  a  living  word,  easy  of  allusion,  literal  in  your 
quotations,  perfect  in  your  recollections,  and  then  say  what  you 
think  of  this  Man.  Come  back  with  your  answer,  and  let  us 
know  the  sum  total  of  your  reasonings. 

See  how  Jesus  Chri'st  treated  this  inquirer.  He  called  at- 
tention to  his  works.  ' '  Go, ' '  said  he,  ' '  and  show  John  again 
those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see.  The  blind  receive 
their  sight  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed  and 
the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  and  the  poor  are  evangel- 
ised." That  was  Christ's  graphic  answer;  not  metaphysical, 
not  doctrinal,  not  a  matter  of  opinion  elaborately  stated  and  elo- 
quently discussed,  but  facts,  palpable  results,  active  and  noble 
beneficence.  A  man's  work  should  praise  him  ;  a  man's  life 
should  be  his  vindication.  You  may  be  ruined  by  complimentary 
testimonials  ;  )'ou  must  be  your  own  testimonial  if  you  would 
vindicate  your  claim  to  any  degree  of  authority  and  sacred  influ- 
ence in  society.  It  is  not  what  men  say  about  you,  but  what  you 
do  yourselves,  that  must  speak  for  you.  Many  men  have  come  to 
me  with  testimonials  which  have  nearly  blinded  me  :  they  have 
been  such  great  men  that  I  could  do  nothing  for  them,  and  yet 
there  they  stood  in  form  of  paupers,  seeking  for  something  to  be 
done.     But  the  testimonials  said  they  were  so  learned  and  so  elo- 


MATTHEW  XI.   1-19.  173 


quent  and  so  capable  and  so  excellent,  that  I  have  thought  they 
must  have  been  testimonials  meant  to  be  presented  at  heaven's 
gate  for  admission  into  some  higher  sphere  than  this.  Do  not  be 
overweighted  with  the  complimentary  testimonials  of  your  flattering 
friends,  but  by  your  own  energy,  force,  wisdom,  love,  sanctified 
and  inspired  from  heaven,  make  such  a  mark  that  the  doubter  him- 
self shall  be  asked  to  consider  it  and  decide  as  to  its  value. 

This  is  what  the  Church  must  do.  The  Church  cannot  live  in 
its  books  of  mere  divinity.  The  Church  can  make  no  impression 
upon  the  age  so  lon^  as  it  indulges  in  merely  wordy  controversy. 
What  is  the  Church  doing?  Are  the  lepers  being  cleansed  and 
the  blind  receiving  their  sight,  are  the  deaf  hearing,  are  the  dumb 
speaking  }  This  is  the  only  proof  the  Church  need  supply  for  its 
divine  inspiration  and  its  divine  authority.  All  this  can  be  done 
to-day.  We  narrow  Christ's  meaning  and  evacuate  it  of  all  high 
significance  when  we  imagine  that  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind  is 
a  merely  physical  operation,  or  to  cleanse  the  leper  a  ministry  that 
begins  and  ends  in  the  flesh.  Those  miracles  were  introductory, 
symbolic,  wholly  preparatory  and  suggestive.  Christ  says,  "  I  am 
looking  for  greater  works  than  these,  which  ye  shall  be  called  upon 
to  do,"  and  which  he  promised  they  should  do  when  he  went  to 
the  Father.  The  bad  man  is  a  leper,  the  man  who  is  in  intel- 
lectual error  is  the  blind  man,  the  man  whose  mouth  is  open  to 
utter  forbidden  words  is  practically  the  dumb  man  in  God's  high 
sense  of  speech  and  music.  When  the  Church  works  these 
miracles  she  need  not  defend  her  credentials,  and  write  a  great  deal 
about  her  ancestr)'  and  her  literature.  Her  answer  is  not  in  the 
library  only,  it  is  on  the  public  thoroughfares,  it  is  in  the  homes, 
lives,  and  businesses  of  men. 

Why  will  you  not  bear  witness  for  your  Master  in  these  matters  ? 
Why  will  you  receive  blessings  in  Church  and  be  dumb  about 
them  ?  It  is  not  so  in  any  other  Church  than  Christ's.  If  I  go 
for  a  moment  amongst  those  who  are  studying  music,  I  hear  no 
other  subject  referred  to  from  the  time  of  opening  the  conversation 
to  the  time  of  closing  it.  It  is  delightful  to  witness  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  student  and  the  devotee.  Is  there  any  shame  about  them  } 
Not  a  particle.  They  speak  of  their  difficulties  and  their  intri- 
cacies,   their  pleasures,   their  high   enjoyments,   their  disappoint- 


174         CHRIST S    TREATMENT  OF  DOUBTERS. 


ments,  their  raptures,  the  time  they  spend  over  it,  with  delight — 
the  Christian  professor,  a  dumb  dog  that  dare  not  name  his 
Master.      Christ  is  wounded  in  the  house  of  his  friends. 

If  I  go  into  the  company  of  painters,  they  talk  all  the  time 
about  painting  :  where  they  have  been,  what  they  have  seen,  what 
they  have  on  hand,  what  intercourse  they  have  had  with  fellow 
artists,  and  they  glow  over  the  subject,  their  hearts  warm,  their 
eyes  dilate,  their  cheeks  flush  with  noble  pride.  Whoever  hears 
Jesus  Christ  referred  to  .?  I  seldom  do,  and  the  answer  is  that  it 
is  too  sacred  a  subject  to  be  talked  about.  O,  but  the  devil  is 
cunning  :  he  says,  ' '  Do  not  mention  God,  the  subject  is  ioo  sacred  : 
do  not  refer  to  Christian  experience  and  Christian  service,  because 
the  subject  is  loo  holy."  You  have  only  to  make  a  subject  grand 
enough  to  have  it  utterly  ignored  !  I  love  to  hear  you  young 
people  talk  about  your  artistic  studies,  your  musical  studies,  your 
literary  studies,  and  to  speak  of  your  teachers  and  masters  and 
helpers  :  it  is  inspiring,  it  is  like  breathing  a  sea-breeze  to  hear  you 
talk  ;  I  would  the  Christian  professors  could  learn  something  from 
you  !  If  their  master  were  less,  they  would  say  more  about  him — 
so  they  seem  to  suggest.  Two  musical  people  will  not  be  five 
minutes  together  before  they  are  in  the  very  midst  of  their  subject  ; 
we  shall  all  disperse  after  public  worship  and  probably  not  a  soul 
refer  to  the  exercises  in  which  we  have  been  engaged. 

How  will  Christ  treat  the  doubter  or  the  inquirer .?  He  will  be 
harsh  with  him  .''  I  never  knew  him  harsh  except  with  the  persons 
who  claimed  infallibility,  ancestral  righteousness,  and  authority  in 
things  of  which  they  knew  nothing.  He  will  rebuke  John  }  I 
never  knew  him  send  a  rebuke  to  a  prison  in  which  lay  any  poor 
soul  suffering  for  Christ's  sake.  He  will  send  a  blessing .?  Yes, 
that  would  be  like  him,  wholly,  so  he  says,  "And  blessed  is  he 
whosoever  shall  not  be  offended  in  me."  He  might  have  .said, 
"Cursed  is  he  who  doubts  about  me,  blameable  is  he  who  asks  a 
question  that  suggests  a  wonder  or  a  difficulty."  Christ  knew 
what  we  call  the  art  of  putting  things.  You  may  send  a  cruel 
message  or  a  kind  one,  all  by  turning  the  sentence  and  setting  it 
in  its  right  relation — "And  blessed  is  he  whosoever  shall  not  be 
offended  in  me,  who  shall  wait  for  the  revelation,  who  shall  submit 
himself  to  the  training  and  discipline  of  God,  who  shall  accept 


MATTHEW  XL   1-19.  175 

God's  way  of  doing  things,  how  mysterious  soever  it  be  ;  for  that 
man  there  is  reserved  a  whole  summer  of  benediction  and  affluence 
redundant,  after  the  pattern  of  God's  love  in  all  his  universe." 
Sometimes  we  must  show  our  Christian  confidence  by  patiently 
waiting,  and  at  all  times  we  must  show  our  Christian  confidence  in 
trusting  a  man  where  we  cannot  explain  the  process  of  his  action. 

Jesus  proceeds  to  speak  about  John.  One  wonders  how  so 
great  a  Speaker  as  Jesus  will  speak  about  any  human  creature. 
He  speaks  about  John  in  noble  terms,  his  eulogium  seems  to  fill 
the  sky,  there  is  no  word  too  good  to  be  spent  upon  the  character 
of  this  modern  Elias.  First  of  all  he  proceeds  to  correct  the 
notions  of  his  time  concerning  John.  "  What  went  ye  out  for  to 
see  .?  A  reed  shaken  with  the  wind,  a  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment, 
a  prophet.?"  This  is  the  transition  through  which  every  honest 
man  passes  when  he  comes  into  new  social  conditions.  No 
minister  can  arise  to-day  who  should  be  enabled  by  the  Lord  to 
do  anything,  who  would  not  pass  through  precisely  these  three 
periods  of  criticism,  unless  he  died  under  one  of  the  first  two, 
and  never  came  to  his  due  recognition.  Thus,  a  reed  shaken 
with  the  wind,  a  nine  days'  wonder,  a  little  fluttering  thing  in  the 
air,  here  and  gone — that  is  the  first  criticism  that  is  passed  on  any 
great  reformer  or  noble  teacher  or  self-sacrificing  soul.  h.  man 
clothed  in  softs,  literally,  that  is  the  next  criticism  ;  he  is  working 
for  himself,  he  is  doing  it  all  with  a  purpose,  he  is  trying  to  make 
his  bed  soft,  his  house  rich,  his  position  strong  :  he  has  an  aim 
in  all  this.  Time  rolls  on,  and  they  begin  reluctantly  to  say,  ' '  He 
is  a  prophet."  They  can  turn  round  as  completely  as  that.  The 
newspapers  can — the  French  newspapers  did  so  about  Napoleon  : 
he  was  a  thief,  he  was  a  Corsican,  he  was  a  pretender — and  the 
next  day  he  was  the  emperor.  That  is  a  very  small  miracle  in 
the  way  of  a  newspaper,  for  men  sometimes  grow  rapidly  under 
journalistic  influences.  Walk  on,  persevere,  hold  the  plough- 
handle  with  all  thy  force  ;  keep  at  it,  John  the  Baptist,  and  thou 
wilt  pass  the  period  of  being  a  reed,  a  man  clothed  in  soft  clothing 
— thou  shalt  be  a  prophet,  and  a  voice  shall  say,  ' '  Yea,  and  more 
than  a  prophet,  a  flower  with  a  fragrance,  a  sun  with  a  halo,  a 
prophet //«j-. "  That  is  so  w-ith  every  one  of  you,  great  and  small, 
speakers  and  hearers,  public  men  and  private  men  ;  in  proportion 


176  CHRIST  AND    THE  BAPTIST. 

as  you  are  honest  and  true,  real  and   reformative  in  your   spirit, 
you  must  be  a  reed,  a  self-seeker,  a  prophet. 

Dr.  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  is,  happily  for  himself,  dead.  In  his  day 
he  was  a  heretic  and  a  latitudinarian  and  a  dangerous  person. 
He  speaks  bitterly  in  his  letters  and  in  his  sermons,  and  to-day  he 
is  worehipped  and  loved  and  honoured,  and  men  call  their  first- 
born sons  Arnold,  after  the  king  of  Rugby.  A  prophet.?  Yea,  I 
say  unto  you  and  more  than  a  prophet.  It  is  a  long  tunnel,  but 
at  the  other  end  of  it  is  the  warm,  genial,  hospitable  summer. 
God  give  thee  strength,  patience,  and  courage  ! 

Jesus  Christ,  in  indicating  the  greatness  of  John  the  Baptist, 
shows  that  the  revelation  with  which  he  was  entrusted  culminated 
and  died  in  his  personal  ministry.  ' '  Notwithstanding, ' '  Christ 
adds,  "he  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than 
he."  Life  is  a  series  of  kingdoms;  in  my  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions  ;  all  things  move  in  circles,  there  are  no  straight 
lines  except  within  given  and  com  passable  points — even  straight 
lines  themselves  are  running  on  into  circles  ;  if  we  could  project 
the  vision  far  enough,  we  should  see  where  the  straight  line  begins 
to  take  the  form  of  the  globe  whereon  it  is  drawn.  So  John  com- 
pletes his  revelation,  and  those  who  are  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
in  the  higher  revelation  are,  even  the  very  least  of  them,  greater 
than  he.  A  little  blade  is  greater  than  the  seed  out  of  which  it 
came,  the  tiniest  child  born  yesterday  is  greater  than  the  grandest 
sculpture  ever  chiselled  by  Phidias  or  his  successors,  the  smallest 
flower  that  blows  is  greater  than  the  finest  artificial  plant  that  ever 
was  fashioned  by  the  most  cunning  fingers.  He  that  is  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he  that  is  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  below.  So  we  grow.  If  we  are  greater  than  John  the 
Baptist,  let  us  prove  our  greatness  by  our  beneficence,  our  noble- 
ness, our  heroic  self-sacrifice,  our  splendid  service,  our  uncom- 
plaining industry. 

Then  Jesus  Christ  takes  an  opportunity  of  discoursing  upon 
himself  and  upon  John.  He  said,  "John  came  neither  eating 
nor  drinking,  and  the  people  say.  He  hath  a  devil.  The  Son  of 
Man  came  eating  and  drinking,  and  they  say,  Behold  a  man 
gluttonous  and  a  winebibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners." 
Every  ministr}'  has  been  rejected,  the  ascetic  ministry,  the  genial 


MATTHEW  XL   1-19.  177 

ministry — each  has  in  turn  been  despised  and  rejected  of  men. 
You  cannot  please  men  who  are  determined  not  to  be  pleased. 
Men  will  not  look  over  the  fogwall  of  their  prejudices.  Here  is  a 
minister  who  will  please  you  ;  he  neither  eats  nor  drinks — what  is 
your  judgment.?  "He  hath  a  devil."  Here  is  a  genial  man, 
he  comes  eating  and  drinking — what  say  you  .?  "A  gluttonous 
man  and  a  winebibber. "  The  truth  is,  you  do  not  want  the 
minister.  I  speak  now  to  those  whose  hearts  are  of  stone,  whose 
will  is  marked  by  invincible  obduracy.  Will  they  stick  at  any- 
thing in  their  road  .?  Not  .they.  He  has  a  devil — take  away  his 
character.  He  is  a  gluttonous  man  and  a  winebibber — take  away 
his  character.  There  is  nothing  too  bad  for  the  bad  man  to  do. 
He  would  uncrown  the  monarch  and  set  fire  to  the  throne,  he  would 
assault  the  reputation  of  angels  rather  than  fail  of  his  malignant 
purpose. 

Blessed  Saviour,  this  is  thy  defence  of  thy  servant.  O  what 
shielding  !  O  what  gentle  protection,  what  ample  security,  what 
noble  eulogium  !  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 
If  we  try  to  serve  him,  though  our  dispensation  be  brief  and  small, 
he  will  recognise  our  efforts,  and  no  eulogy  shall  be  so  sweet  and 
so  full  of  satisfaction  as  his  will  be.  Is  he  your  Master,  is  he 
mine .?  do  I  love  his  name .?  do  I  abide  by  his  cross }  do  I  imbibe 
his  spirit .?  do  I  display  his  love .?  Then,  though  some  may  say 
we  have  a  devil  and  are  mad,  he  will  come  with  the  explanation, 
he  will  vindicate  every  servant  of  his,  and  their  enemies  will  he 
clothe  with  shame,  and  upon  themselves  shall  the  crown  of  his 
favour  flourish. 

To  this  Master  I  call  you.  You  are  not  ashamed  of  any  other 
Master  you  have,  why  be  ashamed  of  this  King .?  You  speak  of 
those  who  taught  )^ou  to  paint,  to  sing,  to  draw,  to  speak,  to  write, 
— do  you  ever  mention  his  name,  who  loved  you  and  gave  him- 
self for  you  } 


XLVII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  do  thou  be  pleased,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour, 
to  come  to  every  one  of  us  with  some  new  revelation  of  thyself.  Thou 
hast  poured  out  thine  heart  upon  us,  and'  behold  we  have  not  been  con- 
trite :  thou  hast  urged  us,  by  every  appeal  known  to  thy  tender  love,  and 
behold  some  of  us  are  still  far  away  from  thee,  as  if  we  had  forgotten  our 
father's  house.  May  we  ask  thee  now  for  some  light  to  fall  upon  our 
heart  which  has  not  yet  fallen,  for  some  tender  strain  to  seek  the  heart 
which  has  sought  it  in  vain  through  years  gone  by  !  All  things  are  pos- 
sible unto  thee.  We  know  not  what  more  thou  canst  do  :  thou  hast  thy- 
self inquired.  What  can  I  do  to  my  vineyard  more  than  I  have  done  ?  If 
thou  canst  not  answer  the  question,  behold  there  is  no  reply  in  us.  Thou 
hast  gathered  the  clouds  into  the  heavens,  and  poured  them  down  upon 
us  in  a  plentiful  rain,  thou  hast  made  all  thy  heaven  quick  with  light,  thou 
hast  filled  the  air  with  angels,  thou  hast  sent  thy  son  to  die  for  us,  the 
just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  unto  God,  thou  hast  granted  to 
strive  with  men  the  Holy  Spirit — what  thou  canst  do  more  we  know  not, 
but  if  thou  canst  do  anything,  now  save  us,  every  one. 

We  are  weary  of  the  world  ;  we  have  sounded  the  hoUowness  of  time 
and  space  and  sense — there  is  nothing  in  them  to  satisfy  our  inward  hunger, 
there  is  in  them  no  water  for  our  soul's  thirst.  Thou  hast  opened  in  the 
house  of  David  a  fountain  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness  :  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  thy  Son  cleanseth  from  all  sin  :  at  thy  table  is  satisfaction,  in  thy 
truth  is  rest  for  the  soul — may  we  take  upon  ourselves  Christ's  yoke  and 
Christ's  burden,  and  be  the  glad  slaves  of  the  Son  of  God  ! 

We  thank  thee  for  every  man  whose  heart  is  attuned  to  thy  praise,  and 
whose  life  is  a  daily  sacrifice  offered  upon  the  altar  of  the  sanctuary  ;  we 
bless  thee  for  every  man  who  can  move  us  to  prayer,  to  holy  tears,  to 
noble  endeavours,  to  sacred  heroisms — encourage  all  such  men,  yea,  do 
thou  give  them  a  plentiful  reward,  and  every  day  renew  their  inspiration, 
that  they  weary  not  nor  fail  in  their  great  mission. 

Here  are  worn  lives,  tired,  bruised,  and  weary  men,  travellers  that  long 
for  the  time  of  lying  down  and  to  be  at  final  rest,  men  who  have  seen 
great  things  which  have  not  moved  them  in  the  right  direction,  lives  that 
have  made  shipwreck  of  faith  and  of  a  good  conscience,  men  in  whom 
there  is  hardly  any  good  thing  left.  Make  to-night  the  gospel  of  Christ 
heard  by  them  to  the  rekindling  of  their  hope  and  the  re-animation  of 
their  best  desires  and  purposes.     Here  are  silent  sufferers,  carrying  theit 


MATTHEW  XL  20-24.  179 


/urden  wearily,  whose  grief  is  too  sacred  for  speech,  whose  wounds  are 
all  in  the  heart.  A  wounded  spirit  who  can  bear  ?  O  Healer  of  mankind. 
Gentle  One,  Physician  of  souls,  Redeemer  of  the  whole  human  race, 
come  thou  in  all  thy  tender  power,  in  all  thy  healing  gentleness,  and 
speak  a  word  in  season  to  him  that  is  ill  at  ease.     Amen. 

Matthew  xi.  20-24. 

20.  Then  began  he  to  upbraid  the  cities  wherein  most  of  his  mighty 
works  (unrecorded  miracles)  were  done,  because  they  repented  not : 

21.  Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin  (or  town  of  Galilee,  two  miles  from  Caper- 
naum), woe  unto  thee,  Bethsaida  (the  birthplace  of  Peter,  Andrew,  and 
Philip):  for  if  the  mighty  works  which  were  done  in  you  (chastised  by 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  Alexander)  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they 
would  have  repented  long  ago  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 

22.  But  I  say  unto  you.  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon 
at  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  you. 

23.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  heaven  (as  the  fre- 
quent residence  of  Christ),  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell  :  for  if  the 
works  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it  would 
have  remained  urttil  this  day. 

24.  But  I  say  unto  you.  That  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of 
Sodom  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  thee. 


SEEKING  FRUIT  AND  FINDING  NONE. 

THIS  is  a  new  tone  in  the  voice  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  that  has 
yet  come  out  of  him  has  been  an  utterance  of  love  and 
hope  and  hospitality,  great  offers  of  healing  and  peace  and  joy. 
Now  comes  the  tone  of  reproach.  It  must  come  sooner  or  later 
in  all  human  training.  Every  man  who  is  deeply  interested  in  the 
race  has  had  occasion  to  utter  a  keen  voice  of  reproach  at  some 
period  of  his  generous  toil.  It  is  important  to  observe  that  in  this 
instance  the  reproach  is  founded  upon  absolute  reasonableness. 
It  is  not  petulance  ;  it  is  the  result  of  labour  not  misapplied,  but 
unworthily  received.  And  we  are  accustomed  amongst  ourselves 
to  utter  reproach  under  precisely  the  same  circumstances.  Some- 
times there  is  a  whining  and  unreasonable  reproach  among  men, 
but,  as  a  general  rule,  in  the  deeper  experience  of  life  our  upbraid- 
jngs  and  reproaches  are  founded  upon  reason. 

How  do  you  address  the  boy  upon  whom  you  have  lavished  all 
your  care  ;  upon  whom  you  have  spent  a  fortune,  little  or  great ; 


i8o  DISAPPOINTMENTS. 

whose  well-being  has  been  the  one  object  of  your  desire  ;  for 
whom  you  would  gladly  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  that  he 
might  be  wise  and  good  and  useful  ;  and  who,  when  everything 
has  been  done  for  him  human  love  could  devise  and  human  sacri- 
fice provide,  has  turned  out  ungrateful,  unfilial,  a  disappointment, 
a  wreck  ?  Is  it  possible  for  you  to  look  on  with  complacency  ? 
Do  you  feel  no  pang  of  the  heart  as  you  look  upon  the  result  of 
all  your  prayer  and  toil  and  care  ?  What  if  there  break  from  the 
tongue  of  the  most  patient  some  bitter  cry  of  regret,  some  tone  of 
parental  disappointment — would  it  be  unreasonable  ?  Its  pathos 
would  be  in  its  reasonableness. 

You  speak  of  the  land  you  toil  upon,  and  on  which  you  bestow 
money  and  labour  and  care,  and  which  does  not  reward  your  in- 
dustry, in  almost  anger  and  contempt.  You  look  for  results  ; 
you  have  a  right  to  do  so  ;  you  have  laboured,  and  you  say  where 
is  the  produce  1  Yet  the  land  will  drink  up  all  you  pour  upon  it, 
eat  it,  and  be  as  lean  as  ever  ;  and  if  you  visit  that  land  with  a 
judgment  of  condemnation  you  are  acting  reasonably  in  so  doing. 

These  illustrations  may  help  us  to  understand  in  some  degree 
the  pathos  of  this  reproach,  the  bitterness  of  this  cry,  and  the  more 
so  because  the  object  of  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his  labour  is  distinctly 
laid  down  here.  The  reason  given  is,  Because  they  repented  not. 
It  was  not  petulance  on  the  part  of  Christ ;  there  was  no  tone  of 
merely  personal  disappointment ;  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  made  the 
cities  worse  rather  than  better  ;  it  seemed  as  if  they  would  have 
been  better  if  they  had  never  seen  him,  for  having  seen  him,  they 
rejected  him  with  despite  and  contempt.  Surely  it  would  have 
been  better  for  some  of  us  if  we  had  never  heard  of  Christ.  No 
man  can  hear  of  Christ  and  be  just  the  same  after  hearing  concern- 
ing him  and  his  gospel  as  before  hearing  the  revelation  of  his  per- 
son and  ministry.  The  gospel  makes  a  man  better  or  it  makes 
him  worse  ;  it  is  a  savour  of  life  unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death. 
No  man  is  the  same  after  church  as  he  was  before  church  ;  the 
prayer  is  an  event  in  his  history  ;  any  offer  of  divine  mercy,  any 
display  of  divine  love,  is  a  crisis  in  the  man's  personal  history,  and 
if  he  accept  not  the  offer  that  was  made,  it  were  better  for  him  that 
the  offer  had  never  been  presented  to  his  attention. 

We  may  no  longer  then  doubt  the  one  purpose  of  Christ  in 
working  his  miracles.     The  object  which  Christ  had  in  view  ra 


MATTHEW  XL  20-24.  181 


working  miracles  was  to  bring  men  to  repentance.  He  upbraided 
the  cities  that  had  seen  his  mighty  works  because  they  repented 
not,  the  argument  being  that  the  miracles  were  wrought  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  the  people  to  repentance,  and  that  object  hav- 
ing failed,  the  whole  purpose  of  Christ  came  to  nothing.  They 
were  not  wrought  to  startle,  to  please,  to  amuse,  or  to  gratify  curi- 
osity, but  to  bring  the  heart  to  contrition  ;  they  were  assaults 
upon  unbelief,  they  were  appeals  to  obduracy,  they  were  so  many 
forms  and  methods  of  gospel  preaching. 

The  miracles  will  be  a  continual  stumbling-block  to  us  if  we 
do  not  seize  this  view  of  them.  Regarded  by  themselves,  they  stun 
the  mind  and  excite  many  eager  questions,  but  placed  in  their 
right  atmosphere  and  read  in  the  high  light  of  their  generous  pur- 
pose, the  miracles  are  but  the  emphasis  with  which  divine  mes- 
sages were  delivered.  No  miracle  is  to  be  torn  out  of  its  setting, 
wrenched  away  from  its  proper  atmosphere,  and  judged  as  a  thing 
complete  in  itself.  Every  miracle  belongs  to  something  else,  and 
if  you  do  not  bring  that  something  else  within  your  purview,  and 
add  that  in  the  consummation  of  your  argument,  you  will  miss 
the  whole  purpose  and  meaning  of  Christ's  miracles.  Yet  this  is 
how  the  miracles  have  been  treated.  They  have  been  taken  out 
one  by  one,  brought  away  from  their  natural  atmosphere  and 
proper  surroundings,  and  each  has  been  judged  as  a  thing  that  had 
no  relation  to  anything  else.  Now  Jesus  Christ  adds,  in  one  ut- 
terance of  reproach,  the  miracles  to  a  grand  moral  purpose.  He 
upbraided  the  cities,  and  cried  in  terms  of  bitter  reproach  because 
the  miracles  had  not  produced  repentance.  They  might  have  ex- 
cited the  cities  to  applause,  roused  the  cities  to  admiration  and 
delight,  as  mere  feats  of  power  ;  Christ  would  not  have  found,  in 
such  external  enthusiasm,  the  result  of  his  purpose. 

Understand  therefore,  in  reading  the  miracles,  that  every  one  of 
them  has  a  moral  issue  in  view  in  the  scheme  and  providence  of 
God,  and  we  must  not  detach  the  miracle  from  the  moral  and 
beneficent  purpose  which  God  had  in  view  in  working  that 
wonder  in  the  sight  of  Man.  Take  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord 
himself.  As  a  mere  incident  in  human  history,  it  is  incredible. 
But  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord  is  never  set  before  us  as  a  mere 
incident  in  human  history.     It  is  not  an  anecdote  complete  in 


1 82  THE  INCARNATION  OF  CHRIST. 


itself,  it  brings  up  the  ages  with  it,  it  sums  infinite  processes  into 
one  grand  manifestation.  As  a  divine  method  of  coming  into  the 
race,  it  was  from  the  point  of  reason  the  only  method  of  approach- 
ing the  solemn  work  which  was  to  be  done.  Given,  God's  pur- 
pose to  manifest  himself  unto  the  world  in  visible  form,  and  the 
gospel  method  of  incarnation  was  not  only  the  best  possible,  but 
the  only  possible  method.  I  wish  we  had  the  opportunity  of 
working  out  that  theorem  to  its  fullest  issues.  It  needs  to  be 
stated  over  and  over  again  until  men  become  perfectly  familiar 
with  its  terms.  Not  only  was  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord  the 
best  possible  method  of  coming  into  the  human  race,  but  the  only 
method  of  doing  so.  And  this  I  undertake  to  show  on  the  ground 
of  natural  reason  itseli 

God  could  not  come  into  any  common  man  as  he  came  into 
Christ  without  first  destroying  that  man's  identity,  altering  the 
centre  and  the  weight  of  that  man's  responsibility,  and  placing 
that  man  in  a  totally  false  relation  to  every  other  member  of  the 
human  race.  The  Incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  exactly  as  it  is 
stated  in  the  gospel  alone  fills  my  imagination  and  satisfies  my 
reason  in  its  sternest  mood.  It  would  have  amounted,  had  God 
come  into  any  common  man  as  he  came  into  Christ,  to  an  invidi- 
ousness  which  would  have  insulted  every  intelligent  creature,  and 
would  have  set  up  a  perpetual  irritation  in  every  process  of  moral 
reasoning.  He  chose  one  of  ourselves,  and  out  of  the  lips  of  that 
elect  man  he  rebuked  every  one  of  us.  Why  did  he  not  choose 
every  one  of  us,  why  did  he  not  come  a  million  strong,  why  not 
incarnate  himself  in  every  creature  that  bore  his  image .?  He 
incarnated  himself  in  one  common  man,  picked  up  one  of  our- 
selves, dwelt  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  deity  in  him  bodily.  Why 
did  he  not  repeat  the  miracle  according  to  the  number  of  millions 
of  human  creatures  upon  the  earth,  and  then  the  whole  work 
would  have  been  done  .?  But  to  tell  me  that  he  incarnated  him- 
self in  a  creature  precisely  of  my  own  kind  and  standing  precisely 
on  a  level  with  myself,  and  then  left  me  out  and  spoke  to  me 
through  the  man  whom  he  had  thus  made  his  own  tabernacle, 
insults  my  reason,  annoys  my  sense  of  justice,  fills  me  with  con- 
tempt. But  take  the  gospel  method,  coming  as  Christ  came  into 
the  world,  begotten  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  conceived  of  the  Virgin 


MATTHEW  XI.  20-24.  183 


Mary,  made  like  unto  us  yet  without  sin,  and  it  becomes  a 
mystery  indeed,  but  a  mystery  before  which  our  reason  uncovers 
its  head  and  bows  down  in  lowly  wonder  and  worship.  As  it  is, 
I  can  say.  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  but  upon  any  other  theory  I  should  say,  Great  is  the  injustice 
of  godliness  ;  a  common  man  is  chosen  and  purified  as  a  vessel  of 
God,  whilst  other  men  are  left  to  be  touched  and  moved  by  his 
inferior  ministry. 

Do  not  detach  the  miracles  from  their  atmosphere,  above  all 
things  do  not  create  any  space  between  the  miracle  and  its  moral 
purpose  ;  the  moral  purpose  of  every  miracle  was  to  bring  men  to 
consideration,  to  spiritual  softening,  to  individual  repentance,  and 
it  is  through  that  moral  purpose  that  the  whole  scheme  of  the 
riiracles  must  be  viewed  and  estimated. 

Jesus  Christ  tells  us  that  judgment  is  to  be  in  proportion  to 
opportunities.  Tyre  and  Sidon  will  not  have  to  answer  for  more 
than  their  own  advantages.  But  this  law,  so  simple  and  so  just, 
adds  to  the  gravity  of  living  now.  If  we  grow  in  responsibility  as 
we  grow  in  age,  what  arithmetician  in  all  this  house  shall  add  up 
the  sum  of  our  obligation  .?  He  that  despised  Moses'  law  died 
without  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses  ;  of  how  much  sorer 
punishment  suppose  ye  shall  he  be  thought  worthy  who  hath 
trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of 
the  covenant  wherewith  he  was  sanctified  an  unholy  thing,  and 
hath  done  despite  unto  the  spirit  of  grace  }  It  is  an  awful  thing 
to  live  now.  We  live  longer  than  Methusaleh  lived  ;  we  are  as- 
tounded by  patriarchal  statistics  as  to  human  age,  but  there  is  not 
a  child  living  who  has  not  lived  longer  than  Methusaleh  lived. 
We  live  longer  in  a  week  than  Methusaleh  lived  in  a  century  ;  his 
age  was  but  a  span  to  ours  ;  everything  is  made  ready  to  oui' 
hands,  the  whole  world  is  now  a  grand  machine  for  the  instanta- 
neous doing  of  things  ;  there  is  nothing  more  possible  in  our 
case.  If  I  were  called  upon  to  say  what  more  could  be  done  I 
should  be  at  an  utter  loss  to  reply. 

What  more  could  be  done  in  your  case .''  Let  me  for  a 
moment  ask,  individualising  any  one  of  you.  Tell  me  wherein 
you  have  been  neglected.  Have  you  heard  every  variety  of  human 
voice,  have  you  heard  the  son  of  thunder  and  the  son  of  consola- 
tion, have  you  the  open  Scripture  in  your  house,  written  in  your 


i84  THE  LAW  OF   JUDGMENT. 

mother  tongue,  is  not  the  air  full  of  sacred  ministry,  in  every 
street  is  there  not  a  sanctuary  throwing  open  its  hospitable  doors 
and  inviting  you  to  its  hospitable  refreshment  ?  Have  you  not 
been  reared  in  a  Christian  home,  taught  the  prayers  that  jesus 
breathed,  have  you  not  been  prayed  over,  cared  for,  watched, 
written  to  in  many  a  tender  motherly  epistle,  spoken  to,  and  had 
the  advantage  of  much  fatherly  counsel  ?  Have  not  your  friends 
gathered  round  you  and  bidden  you  welcome  to  some  higher  life 
and  nobler  purpose— what  more  can  be  done  ?  What  if  the  next 
voice  shall  rend  the  air  and  a  bitter  wail  of  reproach  shall  fall  upon 
your  ear,  God' sown  upbraiding,  because  you  have  returned  to  him 
the  prophets  and  minstrels,  the  holy  books,  the  cross,  his  son,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  unequal  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  obduracy  of 
your  selfishness  and  the  fortification  of  your  selfish  will.  If  you 
were  to  ask  me  what  more  could  be  done  I  should  be,  I  repeat, 
at  a  loss  to  reply  ;  you  have  heard  the  thunder,  seen  the  light, 
listened  to  the  music,  had  an  opportunity  of  entering  the  open 
door  of  hope — a  thousand  new  chances  have  come  to  you  and 
offered  you  new  light,  to  every  one  of  these  appeals  and  oppor- 
tunities you  have  returned  a  sullen  No,  a  selfish  denial,  and  God 
has  nothing  else.  He  said,  "  I  will  send  my  Son,  they  will 
reverence  my  Son,  they  will  see  me  in  my  Son,"  and  we  have- 
taken  his  Son  and  stoned  him  and  slain  him  and  have  bound  our 
oaths  with  his  sacred  name.  O  the  tragedy,  O  the  awfulness 
beyond  all  human  speech  !  It  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre 
and  Sidon  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for  us,  if  we  have  refused 
the  gracious  offers  of  God. 

To  me  there  is  a  glowing  and  final  proof  of  the  eternal  truthful- 
ness of  Christ  in  the  fact  that  he  never  concealed  his  own  failures. 
No  impostor  can  afford  to  make  the  worst  of  his  case.  Impostors 
magnify  their  successes  ;  through  one  success  impostors  try  to 
force  their  way  to  others.  Impostors  live  in  grand  reports,  they 
publish  their  statistics  to  an  admiring  world — they  never  tell  you 
of  their  failures.  Truth  alone  loves  truth.  Jesus  Christ  never 
gave  us  a  coloured  picture  of  the  successes  of  his  ministry.  He  did 
not  hide  his  disappointment,  he  did  not  tell  the  disciples  round 
about  him  that  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Capernaum  were  much 
better  than  they  looked,  and  there  were  instances  of  encourage- 
ment and  germs  of  promise,  and   he  did  not  tell   three  of   the 


MATTHEW  XL  20-24.  185 

disciples  that  they  themselves  came  out  of  the  very  Bethsaida  on 
which  they  were  looking.  No,  he  was  true,  he  spoke  the  truth, 
he  confessed  the  terrific  tragedy  of  his  soul's  disappointment. 
"  And  when  he  came  near  the  city  he  wept  over  it,  and  said,  O 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thee  as  a 
hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not.  Ye 
will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life."  "  We  will  not 
have  this  man  to  reign  over  us,"  say  you.  He  upbraided  tho 
cities  wherein  most  of  his  mighty  works  were  done,  because  they 
repented  not. 

You  will  always  find  Christ  consistent  with  his  own  truthfulness. 
He  has  nothing  to  colour,  pervert,  distort,  tinge  with  glowing  tints, 
in  order  that  he  may  win  further  support.  He  says,  "I  have 
laboured  and  I  have  reaped  nothing.  I  have  toiled  and  my  labour 
has  been  my  only  reward.  I  came  unto  my  own,  and  my  own 
received  me  not."  There  is  a  ring  of  solemn  truthfulness  in  all 
these  declarations.  Impostors  would  have  seen  the  glitter  and 
called  it  gold.  Christ  saw  the  failure,  and  upbraided  those  who 
had  caused  his  ministry  to  return  to  himself  as  a  bitter  disappoint- 
ment. 

But  this  question  arises  :  Is  it  possible  for  Jesus  Christ  to  have 
come  into  any  city  and  to  have  preached  the  gospel,  and  to  have 
shown  his  mighty  works,  and  yet  for  that  city  not  to  repent }  Let 
me  tell  you  that  we  have  too  many  analogies  in  our  own  common 
life  to  allow  us  to  doubt  of  that  possibility  for  one  moment.  Some 
of  us  have  sinned  away  the  very  highest  advantages  of  secular  life. 
Here  is  a  man  of  the  highest  education  ;  he  has  passed  through  a 
university  career  and  brought  out  after  him  all  the  prizes  the 
university  could  offer.  He  is  adorned  at  every  point,  the  very 
ripest  specimen  of  the  most  modern  culture,  so  far  as  his  intelli- 
gence is  concerned.  It  would  be  impossible  for  that  man  to  do 
the  dishonourable  deed,  to  speak  the  dishonourable  word,  to  play 
falsely,  to  be  guilty  of  malfeasance  ;  he  will  be  true,  upright, 
noble,  pure,  beautiful  as  a  beam  of  light.  Not  necessarily  so. 
We  have  known  such  men  use  their  intelligence  as  an  increased 
facility  for  doing  mischief. 

Here  is  a  man  surrounded  by  all  that  art  can  do  for  the  adorn- 
ment and  the  enlivenment  of  his  home,  every  panel  a  picture,  every 
window  a  hint  of  beauty,  the  whole  surrounding  a  triumph  of  the 


1 86  SINNING  AWAY  LIFE. 

highest  art.  As  the  man  sits  there,  his  thoughts  will  correspond 
with  his  surroundings.  He  will  say,  "  It  will  be  impossible  in  this 
sanctuary  of  beauty  to  be  other  than  beautiful  myself  ;  my  soul 
sings  in  this  palace  of  colour,  and  my  heart  is  at  ease  amid  all  this 
harmony  of  architectural  and  artistic  relationships.  There  can  be 
no  unrest  here  ;  all  the  lines  fall  into  one  another  ;  all  the  colours 
hold  sweet  fellowship  ;  the  whole  house  is  all  but  alive  ;  it  will  be 
a  sacred  place."  Not  necessarily.  In  that  palace  of  beauty  plots 
of  iniquity  may  be  hatched  ;  under  that  fair  ceiling  sin  may 
perpetrate  its  most  cunning  victory  ;  amid  all  that  beauty  there 
may  be  a  moral  hideousness  which  may  make  the  angels  weep. 
The  life  of  that  man  may  be  a  daily  insult  to  every  soft  colour,  to 
all  the  blended  lights  and  shadows,  and  to  the  very  genius  of  the 
sanctuary  of  art  and  loveliness.  In  many  a  humble  cot,  in  many 
a  lowly  home,  with  hardly  a  little  engraving  in  it,  you  will  find  a 
moral  loveliness  which  would  turn  that  debased  palace  into 
a  scene  of  ghastliest  hideousness. 

Yes,  it  is  possible  to  sin  away  music,  beauty,  love,  life,  light  ; 
possible  to  sin  away  all  the  ministry  of  wife,  child,  friend,  picture, 
and  all  that  makes  life  deep,  solemn,  lovely.  If  it  be  so,  then  it 
is  but  a  step  to  the  other  possibility  of  sinning  Christ  out  of  the 
life,  urging  him  away,  rebuking  him  and  bidding  him  depart  out 
of  the  region  of  our  thought  and  love.  My  friend,  I  know  of  no 
ghastlier  sight  than  grand  external  exaltation  associated  with  moral 
perversity  and  putridity.  Men  would  be  shocked  if  they  found 
under  royal  purple  and  regalia  a  skeleton  propped  up  at  the  feast, 
with  a  foaming  glass  fastened  in  its  bony  and  icy  fingers.  That 
would  drive  them  mad  ;  that  would  be  intolerable  irony  ;  yet  that 
is  a  commonplace  in  the  moral  world.  If  you  could  go  into  the 
banqueting-house,  and  sit  down  next  the  royal  purple,  and  feel 
your  face  flushing  with  pride  because  of  the  association,  and  could 
then  turn  round  and  see  that  under  the  purple  there  was  a  dead 
carcass,  you  would  never  forget  the  sight,  and  you  would  refer  to 
it  as  the  most  tragic  of  your  experiences.  You  would  shudder  in 
horror  every  time  you  recalled  the  instance.  My  friends,  'tis 
nothing — a  gibe,  a  joke,  a  thing  to  laugh  at,  compared  with  the 
moral  skeletons  that  are  around  the  table  of  the  world  every  day. 
Fine  coats  do  not  make  fine  characters  ;  fine  houses  do  not  always 
mean  splendid  tenants  ;  the  basest  metal  may  have  a  covering  of 


MATTHEW  XI.  20-2A.  187 

gold.  I  wonder  not  that  Jesus  Christ,  looking  upon  some  men, 
said,  "  Whited  sepulchres,  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  men 
walk  over  them,  and  are  not  aware  of  them. ' '  It  required  his 
eye,  the  eye  in  which  is  the  light  that  shall  make  the  glory  of 
the  resurrection  morning,  to  see  those  whited  sepulchres,  and 
count  those  dead  men' s  bones. 

He  sees  us  as  we  are  ;  he  conceals  nothing  of  the  ghastly 
reaUty  ;  he  prophesies  no  smooth  things  to  sinners  that  are  living 
lies.  Thank  God  for  the  truthfulness  of  Christ.  If  you  want  to 
know  what  you  are,  go  to  him  ;  he  makes  no  false  reading  of 
character  ;  he  makes  no  miscalculation  of  human  force  and  value  ; 
he  is  the  one  character  that  tests  every  other  living  man.  O  that 
upbraiding  face,  may  we  never  see  it  !  O  that  upbraiding  voice, 
may  we  never  hear  it  !  Every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  also 
that  pierced  him  shall  look  upon  him  and  mourn,  and  shall  call 
to  the  rocks  and  to  the  mountains,  saying,  "  Fall  on  us,  and  hide 
us  from  the  face  and  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb. 

I  have  seen  faces  so  laden  with  sorrow  that  to  look  upon  them 
was  to  feel  an  intolerable  burden  of  self-accusation  resting  upon 
and  distressing  the  soul,  without  a  word  spoken,  just  as  your  mother 
looked  when,  after  a  thousand  prayers,  you  came  home — a  wreck. 
She  said,  "  Speech  is  useless  ;  I  have  spoken,  and  my  throat  is 
sore."  But  O  the  look,  the  reddened  eyes,  the  wet  eyelids,  the 
swollen  face,  the  trembling  lips,  the  whole  look  !  It  said,  "  How 
sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is,  to  have  a  thankless  child." 
And  the  old  man,  as  he  looked  up  off  his  book,  and  saw  you, 
said  nothing  ;  but  his  eyes  were  judgment,  his  glance  was  hell. 

0  that  upbraiding  face,  O  that  upbraiding  voice — may  they 
never  come  within  our  experience  ! 


XLVIII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  would  hold  thee  in  long  speech  to-day,  because  our 
hearts  are  full  of  love,  and  thou  has  set  a  great  song  to  sing  in  our  life  of 
mercy  and  of  judgment,  and  there  is  a  lifting  up  of  our  soul  towards  all 
thy  heavens,  and  a  spirit  within  us  which  claims  the  liberty  of  thy  kingdom. 
We  bless  thee  for  all  seasons  of  rapture  and  uplifting,  when  the  horizon 
widens  and  the  clouds  die  away  before  the  all-conquering  light,  and  the 
whole  soul  is  filled  with  the  beauty  of  thy  presence.  Sometimes  thou  dost 
lead  us  by  dark  ways,  and  show  us  deep  and  gloomy  places,  and  we  fall 
back  in  terror  from  the  sight  :  then  dost  thou  take  us  into  high  mountains, 
yea  thou  dost  lift  us  beyond  the  line,  even  towards  the  stars  are  we  carried, 
and  thou  dost  show  us  kingdoms  which  fall  not  within  the  range  of  the 
eyes  of  those  upon  the  earth.  Then  have  we  great  joy  ;  in  that  glad  hour 
do  we  understand  somewhat  of  thine  eternity,  in  that  holy  ecstasy  are  we 
filled  with  an  infinity  that  may  be  felt. 

We  thank  thee  for  all  religious  experiences  which  give  us  enlargement 
of  mind,  freedom  of  spirit,  nobility  of  purpose,  purity  of  temper,  and  great 
range  of  love  and  hope.  Herein  dost  thou  redeem  our  soul  from  selfish- 
ness, and  set  us  within  thy  kingdom  as  children  chosen  by  an  election  that 
cannot  be  revoked.  Do  thou  now  give  unto  us  this  baptism  in  answer  to 
which  our  soul  shall  shake  off  everything  that  is  mean  and  vile,  and  shall 
enter  into  sweet  fellowship  with  thine  own  heart.  The  way  to  thyself  is 
broader  than  our  life,  greater  in  its  width  than  all  our  aggravated  sin. 

Where  sin  abounds  grace  doth  much  more  abound.  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
way  to  the  Father,  he  is  the  gate  through  which  we  pass,  the  road  along 
which  we  travel,  the  name  which  opens  the  whole  heavens  with  gladness, 
and  his  the  blood  which  never  touches  but  to  cleanse.  Fill  us  with  the 
hope  that  we  may  rest  in  Christ,  and  have  all  our  sm  taken  away.  We 
come  without  excuse,  defence,  or  plea  in  words  ;  we  will  not  mention  our 
weakness  nor  set  up  our  infirmity  as  an  argument ;  we  will  cast  ourselves 
without  words  or  pleas  upon  the  infinite  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
ask  thee  for  his  sake  to  give  unto  us  an  assured  pardon.  Great  joy  have 
they  whom  thou  dost  forgive,  they  are  born  again,  once  more  they  begin 
their  life.  Thou  dost  set  before  them  an  opportunity  ;  may  they  be  wise 
enough  to  seize  it  and  carry  out  thy  purpose  to  its  gracious  perfection. 

We  are  here  this  day  to  magnify  thee  in  a  common  song.  There  is  here 
no  silent  tongue,  we  make  melody  in  our  hearts  unto  the  Lord,  and  our 
understanding  glows  with  the  consciousness  of  favours  unnumbered  and 


MATTHEW  XL  25-30.  189 


undeserved.  Therefore  do  we  lift  up  our  hearts  in  common  praise  and  in 
unanimous  supplication  and  thanksgiving  and  we  know  that  further 
answers  and  manifestations  will  not  be  denied  those  who  thus  humbly 
tarry  at  the  cross. 

Every  heart  has  its  own  prayer  as  every  life  has  its  own  burden  :  do 
thou  interpret  unto  thyself  all  that  we  cannot  say  unto  thee.  Read  our 
innermost  hearts  and  see  what  we  most  require.  Thou  knowest  how 
much  discipline  is  requisite  to  subdue  and  mellow  us  and  bring  us  into 
perfect  fellowship  and  tone  with  thy  mind.  Heavy  indeed  is  the  rod  that 
is  needed  :  many  are  the  afflictions  which  thou  dost  pour  upon  us  like 
drenching  rains  upon  our  little  fire — spare  not  the  affliction,  but  spare  not 
also  thy  presence.  Let  thy  grace  preside  over  the  fire  and  the  flood  and 
the  great  chastisement,  and  do  thou  at  last  cause  thyself  to  be  magnified 
in  us  whether  by  life  or  by  death. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  thy  gifts  to  us  in  this  daily  life.  Our  table  has 
never  wanted  bread,  our  front  door  thou  hast  locked  and  guarded,  our 
window  thou  hast  enriched  with  light,  thou  hast  sent  the  angel  of  sleep  to 
guard  our  bed,  thou  hast  continued  unto  us  our  reasoning  faculties,  we 
are  here  in  health  and  strength  this  day  to  answer  thy  mercy  with  a  new 
vow  of  love  and  service.  Visit  us  according  to  our  necessity,  individually, 
at  home,  in  business,  in  the  church — the  whole  world.  Let  nothing 
escape  the  eye  of  thy  love  as  nothing  can  escape  the  eye  of  thy  wisdom. 
Put  out  thine  hand  towards  us  when  our  own  hand  is  useless,  guide  us 
where  the  paths  mix  much  and  we  cannot  see  the  road  we  want  to  take, 
and  when  the  night  comes  down  suddenly  upon  us  and  shuts  us  up  in  the 
presence  of  darkness,  then  do  thou  light  a  lamp  and  lead  us  on  the  road  to 
thyself. 

Comfort  the  old  by  turning  their  memories  into  prophecies,  comfort  the 
young  by  an  assurance  that  thou  art  carrying  forward  the  world  to  greater 
manhood  and  nobler  development,  even  until  it  shall  become  the  kingdom 
of  thy  Son  our  Saviour. 

Direct  all  our  affairs,  save  us  from  presumption,  save  us  from  despair, 
save  us  from  ourselves,  yea,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  one  Priest  and 
Mediator,  magnify  thy  salvation  in  all  our  life.     Amen. 

Matthew  xi.  25-30. 

25.  At  that  time  Jesus  answered  and  said,  I  thank  thee  {"  I  recognise 
the  justice  of  thy  doings")— O  Father  (the  first  public  mention  of  his 
Father),  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  because  thou  hast  (in  the  far  past)  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes. 

26.  Even  so.  Father  :  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight. 

27.  All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father  :  and  no  man  know- 
eth  the  Son,  but  the  Father;  neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save 
the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him. 


I90  THE  CHILD   SPIRIT. 

28.  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest. 

29.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart :  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls. 

30.  For  my  yoke  is  easy  (not  exacting)  and  my  burden  is  light. 

CHRIST'S    JOY. 

IN  Luke  we  read,  tenth  chapter  and  twenty-first  verse,  * '  In  that 
hour  Jesus  rejoiced  in  spirit."  There  is  no  mention  of  the 
joy  in  the  gospel  of  Matthew.  A  great  gladness  filled  his  heart, 
and  whilst  the  fire  burned  he  spake  with  his  tongue.  Why  did  he 
rejoice  }  Had  riches  been  left  him  ?  Had  he  escaped  the  cross  t 
Had  great  men  fawned  upon  him  .?  Did  his  age  understand  and 
appreciate  him  }  Nothing  of  the  kind.  The  scope  of  divine 
revelation  had  been  indicated.  He  saw  where  the  light  was  always 
to  fall  first ;  and  when  he  saw  babes  become  chosen  angels  of  God, 
his  soul  was  lifted  up  in  holy  rapture.  There  is  no  movement 
worth  anything  that  does  not  begin  with  the  babes  ;  no  solid  and 
permanent  kingdom  can  be  set  up  in  the  ages  that  does  not  begin 
upon  the  babe-line.  From  that  line  you  move  upward  through 
all  classes,  and  take  them  all  as  you  move  in  your  comprehensive 
ascension  and  progress.  Jesus  Christ  saw  this,  and  when  he  saw 
it  he  rejoiced  and  thanked  God. 

We  see  how  clearly  he  estimated  the  intellectual  character  of 
those  who  were  called  his  disciples.  He  never  supposed  them  to 
be  great  men  intellectually  ;  he  knew  what  was  in  men  ;  he  did 
not  suppose  himself  to  be  surrounded  by  the  philosophy  and  the 
culture  of  his  age.  When  he  called  twelve  fishermen  and  men  of 
other  business  around  him  to  occupy  the  name  and  discharge  the 
functions  of  disciples,  he  knew  how  humble  were  their  intellectual 
capacities,  how  small  and  contemptible  their  mental  culture.  To 
his  eyes  they  were  little  children,  babes  that  knew  nothing,  persons 
whose  eyes  were  filled  with  wonder  and  mystery  and  expectation, 
and  who  could  give  no  full  reply  to  any  question  that  was  put  to 
them,  but  could  turn  their  eyes  of  expectancy  to  their  Master 
and  Lord. 

Jesus  Christ  was  consistent  in  his  appreciation  of  the  child  mind. 
"  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."     He  took  a  child  and  set 


MATTHEW  XL  25-30.  191 

him  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  "  He  that  is  most  like  this 
little  child  is  greatest  in  the  divine  house.  Take  heed  that  ye 
despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones,  for  I  say  unto  you,  their 
angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Was  there  ever  a  great  nature 
in  this  world  that  did  not  go  out  towards  the  children  redeemingly 
and  gladly,  with  all  hopefulness  and  most  religious  admiration, 
and  find  in  every  child  a  germ  of  something  that  had  not  entered 
into  the  imagination  of  man  to  conceive,  as  to  its  possibility  of 
grandeur  and  magnificence  of  destiny  ?  Was  there  ever  a  great 
nature  that  was  not  more  than  half  womanly  ?  O  ye  who  have 
been  making  foolish  calculations  upon  your  slates  as  to  greatness 
and  grandeur  and  nobleness,  know  ye  that  the  child  is  the  best 
hope  of  the  angel,  and  the  woman  nearer  God  than  the  man. 

What  is  this  child-heart }  I  would  have  it  ;  tell  me  what  it  is. 
You  must  take  the  ideality  of  the  case  and  not  torment  yourselves 
with  accidental  incidents.  You  must  not  point  to  this  child  as 
petulant  and  to  that  child  as  stubborn  ;  you  must— putting  away 
all  the  incidences  of  the  case — look  at  the  ideal  child-spirit.  It 
is  teachable  ;  it  does  not  come  with  propositions,  suggestions, 
plans  of  its  own.  Assuming  the  unconscious  dignity  and  attitude 
of  teachableness  and  expectation,  it  says  in  its  religious  silence, 
' '  Lord,  teach  me  ;  show  me  what  thou  wouldst  have  me  to  do. 
Command  me,  do  not  consult  me,  but  teach  me  what  is  right, 
good,  true,  wise,  beautiful.  Explain  it  all  with  that  explanation 
which  itself  is  the  surest  guarantee  of  its  practical  fulfilment  in  life." 

Have  we  that  spirit  t  Then  God  hides  nothing  from  us  of  all 
his  light.  There  is  no  secret  which  we  could  bear  to  know  that 
he  would  keep  from  us  if  we  were  thus  docile.  Our  prudence  he 
disappoints  ;  our  wisdom  he  blinds  with  light ;  he  rebukes  it  with 
darts  of  fire  ;  but  our  childlikeness,  littleness,  nothingness,  humble- 
ness, why  there  is  nothing  which  his  great  hands  can  hold,  and 
which  we  could  possibly  receive,  that  he  would  keep  back  from  us. 

What  is  this  child-spirit  ?  It  is  obedient  To  know  is  to  do. 
To  receive  the  word  is  to  go  out  and  carry  it  into  practice — joy- 
fully. Many  of  us  know  and  fail  to  do  ;  hence  that  sharp  and 
fatal  judgment,  "  To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth  it 


192  SAVED  BY   THE  HEART. 


not,  to  him  it  is  sin, ' '  But  who  can  obey  ?  We  get  the  instruc- 
tions in  the  inner  sanctuar}^,  and  the  devil  always  meets  us  at  the 
threshold  and  says,  "  Are  you  quite  sure  you  heard  the  right 
voice  ?  Are  you  perfectly  clear  that  you  understand  what  you 
have  to  do  ?  Do  you  really  appreciate  all  the  complications  and 
difficulties  of  the  case  ?  Do  you  fully  realise  to  your  own  mind 
the  fact  that  conditions  change  with  ages,  and  that  what  might  be 
suitable  centuries  ago  is  no  longer  suitable  to-day  ?  May  there 
not  have  been  some  mistake  in  the  interpretation  ?"  And  we  who 
have  gotten  the  staff  in  the  hand  and  the  sandals  on  the  feet,  and 
were  going  right  out  not  knowing  whither  we  went,  begin  to 
hesitate  and  wonder  and  calculate  and  consult  a  thousand  interests. 
Then  the  devil  leaveth  us,  and  owns  that  his  side  of  the  battle  is 
won.  Hesitation  is  the  ruin  of  obedience.  To  falter  is  to 
perish  ;  to  read  over  again  the  instructions  is  to  lose  the  very 
vision  which  first  beheld  them,  and  the  insight  which  first  pene- 
trated their  sacred  beauty. 

The  child's  spirit  is  trustful :  it  nestles,  it  hugs,  it  clings  to,  it 
depends  upon,  it  is  wholly  simple  in  its  confidence.  How  then  is 
it  with  our  hearts^ — -are  we  wise  and  prudent,  or  are  we  babes .? 
God's  best  things  are  hidden  from  our  mere  cleverness  :  revelation 
is  not  the  result  of  an  intellectual  process,  it  is  the  reward  of  a 
moral  condition.  We  must  be  so  far  humbled  as  to  accept  the 
doctrine  that  we  never  conquer  spiritual  truth  by  intellectual 
cleverness.  It  is  the  lowly  heart  that  reaps  the  harvest  of  this 
sunny  field.  With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness. 
Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart.  Clever- 
ness troubles  itself  with  definitions,  controversies,  verbal  con- 
sistencies and  subtle  distinctions — the  heart  knows  nothing  of  all 
this  mischief.  We  are  not  saved  by  the  head,  we  are  saved  by  the 
heart  ;  the  heart  waits  upon  God,  the  heart  waits  for  God,  the 
heart  asks  only  vital  questions,  the  heart  utters  only  vital  prayers. 
God  will  spare  no  revelation  from  love.  ' '  If  any  man  love  me, ' ' 
said  Christ,  "  I  will  manifest  myself  to  him.  If  any  man  love 
me,  God  will  love  him.''  Love  is  answered  by  love,  cleverness  is 
confounded  by  omniscience.  If  we  will  be  clever  in  God's  sight, 
he  blinds  us  with  the  wisdom  we  would  foolishly  imitate.  *'  To 
this  man  will  look,  the  man  that  is  of  a  humble  and  contrite  heart, 
and  who  trembleth  at  my  word. ' '    . 


MATTHEW  XL  25-30.  193 


Why  then  are  we  not  further  advanced  in  the  divine  life  ? 
Simply  because  we  are  not  further  advanced  in  the  divine  spirit  of 
love.  We  are  orthodox  in  the  head,  we  are  heterodox  in  the  heart. 
We  speak  the  right  word,  but  we  always  speak  it  in  the  wrong 
tone.  We  are  unimpeachable  in  verbal  statement,  and  the  whole 
heavens  of  God  impeach  us  in  every  emotion  and  outgoing  of 
the  spirit.  That  is  the  lesson  which  needs  to  be  forced  upon 
every  man  in  every  age.  What  he  has  written  upon  paper  may  be 
right,  may  be  beyond  just  impeachment  on  Biblical  or  ecclesiastical 
grounds,  and  yet  it  is  possible  to  read  the  Bible  in  an  unbiblical 
tone,  possible  to  say,  "  God  is  love"  in  a  tone  which  spoils  the 
beauty  of  the  revelation.  Are  you  orthodox  in  voice,  orthodox  in 
spirit,  orthodox  in  temper,  orthodox  in  desire .?  Then  is  there  a 
happy  and  lasting  harmony  between  the  music  of  the  heart  and 
the  music  of  the  intelligence. 

These  reflections  lead  me  to  say  that  you  must  never  look  to 
any  order  of  men  who,  by  virtue  of  intellectual  capacity  and  by 
culture  alone,  are  authenticated  as  the  teachers  of  Christ's  religion. 
Get  rid  of  the  deadly  sophism  that  there  is  a  class  of  clever  men 
called  ministers  or  priests  to  whom  alone  God  has  committed  his 
revelation.  That,  I  repeat,  is  a  deadly  sophism,  an  utter,  blank, 
black  falsehood.  Many  a  poor  suffering  woman  knows  more 
about  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Bible  than  any  of  its  learned 
annotators  have  ever  been  able  to  reveal.  No  great  preacher  ever 
lived  that  was  not  great  because  of  his  littleness,  modesty,  teachable- 
ness, trustfulness  of  heart  before  the  Cross.  There  is  no  great 
preaching  in  the  letter.  The  letter  has  its  place,  and  a  place  that 
must  be  gratefully  recognised  and  justly  honoured  ;  but  if  ever  I 
would  penetrate  into  the  inner  and  hidden  meaning  of  any  pas- 
sage, I  must  shut  myself  up  with  God  and  look  towards  his  holy 
habitation  through  my  blinding  tears,  and  listen  as  if  for  life  to 
the  still  small  voice.  Only  the  afflicted  man  can  expound  the 
promises  of  God,  only  the  man  who  has  been  torn  down,  the  roof 
pulled  off  that  sheltered  him,  the  fire  put  out  that  warmed  him,  the 
bread  snatched  out  of  his  hand  that  fed  him,  and  who  has  been 
scourged  into  the  wilderness  for  forty  days  together  and  more,  can 
expound  me  the  deep,  rich  things  of  God's  heart. 

There  are  great  messages  to  declare  which  young  persons  inex- 
perienced may  well  speak,  for  in  the  delivery  of  all  the  messages 


194  FREDERICK  WILLIAM  ROBERTSON. 

of  this  kingdom  we  want  young  voices,  silver  trumpets,  grand 
outbursts,  jubilant  cries,  herald-like  clearness  and  precision  of 
delivery  ;  but  when  we  come  to  ask  our  deeper  questions,  and 
confront  the  more  solemn  problems  of  life,  we  must  go  near  to 
the  bent  old  man  whose  once  thunder  voice  is  now  shrivelled  into 
a  croaking  whisper,  and  learn  from  him  what  the  deep  messages 
of  God  to  the  human  heart  really  and  for  ever  mean. 

Thus  we  all  come  upon  one  level.  There  are  no  ministers 
that  are  classified  and  set  in  rows,  and  specially  authenticated  with 
the  key  and  with  the  authority  of  heaven  except  those  ministers — 
men,  women,  and  children,  rich  and  poor — who  have  the  child- 
heart,  the  child  eye,  the  child-life,  and  who  utter  music,  and  do 
not  know  themselves  to  be  more  than  instruments  of  God.  The 
greatest  revealers  of  the  divine  message  are  men  who  hardly  know 
that  they  are  revealing  it.  They  speak  light,  and  they  wonder 
that  everybody  else  does  not  speak  in  the  same  way.  The  man  of 
the  keenest  insight  into  Biblical  revelation  that  has  lived  in  this 
age,  so  far  as  I  am  aware — the  man  of  the  eagle  eye,  the  eagle- 
visioned  heart — is  Frederick  William  Robertson,  of  Brighton. 
He  seemed  to  know  all  God's  heart.  When  people  wrote  to  him 
with  puzzles  and  mysteries  of  a  religious  kind,  he  sat  down  like  a 
little  child  on  the  roadside,  and  said,  "  I  will  tell  you  how  that 
is,"  as  if  he  wondered  that  they  did  not  already  know  ;  and  his 
sentences  are  lights,  his  pages  are  luminous.  When  we  have  read 
him,  we  say,  ' '  What  fools  we  were  not  to  have  seen  it  before. ' ' 
Yet  was  he  persecuted  unto  the  death,  utterly  killed  and  slain  by 
men  who  have  yet  to  face  the  judgment  of  God  on  his  account. 

Read  your  Bibles  for  yourselves  ;  read  them  in  your  mother 
tongue.  It  is  possible  not  to  know  in  what  language  the  Bible 
was  originally  written,  and  yet  to  know  all  its  deeper  meanings 
through  the  translation  that  is  in  our  hands  to-day.  Say,  * '  Open 
thou  mine  eyes,  and  I  shall  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy 
law  ;  open  my  understanding  that  I  may  understand  the  Script- 
ures. Make  me  a  little  child  in  thy  school,  thou  gentle  Christ, 
and  let  every  word  come  to  my  heart  in  its  simplest  and  directest 
meaning  and  force."  Then  shall  we  be  all  Bible  scholars,  learned 
men  in  the  school  of  Christ,  Come  with  your  grammars,  your 
dictionaries,  your  culture,  your  cleverness,  your  controversial 
powers,  your  faculties  all  awake,  questioning  and  cross-questioning 


MATTHEW  XL  25-30.  195 

and  examining  point  by  point,  and  consistency  with  consistency  ; 
and  the  Bible  can  make  itself  very  haughty  ;  like  its  central  figure, 
it  can  draw  itself  up  into  fatal  silence,  and  look  at  you  as  if  it 
heard  not  a  word  uttered  by  your  clamorous  tongue.  I  will 
hasten  to  my  Master,  knowing  nothing,  and  asking  for  knowl- 
edge from  him,  and  I  will  take  with  me  no  part  of  my  schooling 
and  cleverness,  and  sharpness,  and  shrewdness,  and  sagacity.  I 
will  leave  all  these  things  right  away  behind  me,  and  I  will  say, 
"  Lord,  what  wouldst  thou  have  me  to  do.?  What  is  thy  will  ? 
Show  me  the  meaning  of  this;  If  thou  canst  not  say  it  in  letters 
on  an  example  board,  show  it  in  life,  ay,  though  it  come  to  tears 
and  all  the  agony  of  life-long  tragedy — yet  in  me  magnify  thyself. 
Whether  by  life  or  by  death,  show  me  thy  meaning,  and  let  my 
heart  be  the  first  to  see  it. ' ' 

Jesus  Christ  sets  himself  up  as  an  example  of  the  child-mind  in 
verse  27.  "  All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father,  and 
no  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father,  neither  knoweth  any 
man  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will 
reveal  him. ' '  Observe  how  the  words  are  paternal  and  filial — the 
Father,  the  Son,  the  Father  knowing  the  Son,  the  Son  knowing 
the  Father,  and  the  Son  revealing  the  Father  to  other  sons,  for  to 
as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God.  It  is  therefore  to  the  child's  spirit  always  that  the 
revelation  is  made.  Have  we  the  child's  spirit.?  We  must  be 
born  again. 

There  is  another  indication  of  the  spirit  which  Christ  will 
bless — the  new  born  spirit  desiring  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word — 
little  children  knowing  nothing,  but  laying  their  ear  on  their 
father' s  heart  to  catch  the  music  of  its  beating.  Let  us  from  this 
moment  renounce  ourselves,  our  cleverness,  our  ability,  our  so- 
called  genius  and  talent,  and  let  us  know  that  the  only  genius  that 
has  any  power  in  the  sanctuary  is  the  genius  of  love.  Sorrow 
hears  more  than  strength  and  fulness  can  ever  hear,  and  when  we 
are  weakest  then  are  we  strongest ;  when  we  are  most  like  little 
children  then  are  we  most  like  the  angels  of  God. 

The  next  words  do  not  break  the  thread  of  the  sacred  discourse  ; 
they  rather  give  it  a  practical  and  beneficent  aspect.  ' '  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 


196  REST  IN  CHRIST. 

rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek 
and  lowly  in  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For 
my  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light."  .  How  sweet  can  be  his 
tone,  how  near  the  heart  he  can  come,  with  what  delicate  expres- 
sions he  can  indicate  the  bitterest  experiences  of  the  world.  How 
he  knows  us,  in  and  out,  through  and  through  altogether. 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden  with  your 
controversies,  misunderstandings,  ceremonial  observances,  burden- 
bearing  of  every  kind.  It  is  a  mistake,  it  is  needless — come  unto 
me  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  This  message  I  deliver  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  to  you  who  have  been  vexing  your  intelligence  with  a 
thousand  questions  and  problems  which  you  can  never  answer. 
My  message  thus  takes  upon  itself  great  breadth  of  application, 
for  I  question  whether  there  are  many  here  who  have  not  at  times 
troubled  themselves  with  a  thousand  outside  inquiries  which  do 
not  relate  to  the  vital  essence  of  this  faith,  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  secret  of  this  sanctuary.  I  question  whether  there  are 
many  here  who  have  not  tried  to  wash  their  hands  when  they 
ought  to  have  known  that  it  was  their  heart  that  needed  cleansing. 
To-day  bring  to  me  your  diaries,  your  vow-books,  your  plans, 
your  programmes,  your  habits,  your  beginnings  and  your  end- 
ings, your  fire-lightings,  your  bullock-offerings,— bring  them  to 
me  and  we  will  burn  them  in  one  common  blaze  and  begin  again 
by  being  nothing  at  all  but  little  children  in  God's  house.  You 
want  rest,  and  you  can  never  secure  that  prize  by  your  own  effort. 
There  is  not  a  soul  here  that  does  not  sigh  for  rest.  There  is  no 
rest  to  be  had  except  through  Jesus  Christ.  The  restful  alone  can 
give  rest,  peace  alone  can  give  peace.  He  will  self-poise  us,  set 
our  nature  in  its  proper  balance,  bring  all  our  faculties  into 
harmonious  relation  and  interplay,  and  thus  he  will  establish  us 
in  the  comfort  and  quietness  of  his  own  peace.  We  have  seen 
this  done  in  countless  cases  :  in  every  instance  we  have  seen 
apathy,  deadness,  surly  reluctance  sometimes  mistaken  for  resigna- 
tion, but  only  in  the  Christian  sanctuary  have  we  seen  death 
accepted  as  life  and  the  utterest  sorrow  drunk  as  a  sacrament  of 
blood. 

I  have  just  perused  the  memorials  of  Catharine  and  Crawfurd 
Tait,  the  wife  and  the  son  of  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
I  will  risk  any  argument  upon  the  divinity  of  Christianity  upon 


MATTHEW  XI.  25-30.  197 

the  experiences  recorded  in  that  volume.  Your  child  died  :  but 
have  3'ou  had  tvv^o  children  dying,  and  as  soon  as  the  second  died 
the  third  sickening  for  death,  and  as  soon  as  the  third  died  the 
fourth  getting  ready  for  heaven,  and  no  sooner  the  fourth  taken 
up  than  the  fifth  withers  and  dies — week  after  week  till  the  whole 
five  go,  and  all  the  little  graves  are  green  together,  and  the 
stranger  unable  to  tell  which  of  the  five  was  cut  first }  And  then 
have  you  been  able  to  say,  "  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemed 
good  in  thy  sight  ?' '  Then  truly  have  you  found  rest  unto  your 
soul  !  Have  you  for  years  watched  over  your  only  son,  and  just 
when  he  was  coming  into  the  full  fruition  of  his  power  and 
beginning  life,  buried  him  when  he  was  but  nine-and-twenty — the 
only  son,  the  son  that  was  to  bear  on  the  family  name,  the  great 
and  honoured  patronymic— and  have  you  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
yourself  fallen  down  once  and  again  all  but  dead  on  the  floor, 
and  lain  in  the  sick-chamber  for  six  and  eight  and  ten  weeks  at  a 
time,  hardly  able  to  breathe,  much  less  to  speak  ;  and  have  you 
at  the  end  of  it  all  said,  "  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good 
in  thy  sight  V '     Then  truly  have  you  found  rest  unto  your  souls  1 

These  are  the  triumphs  which  no  hand  can  spoil,  these  the 
miracles  that  have  an  everlasting  force  in  the  calculations  and 
reasonings  of  the  soul.  Jesus  Christ  is  therefore  not  without  wit- 
ness in  the  families  of  the  earth  of  his  power  to  give  quietness  and 
rest  and  expectancy  of  a  high  kind  in  the  time  of  flood  and  fire 
and  sore  distress. 

Little  children,  let  me  tell  you  something  before  I  sit  down, 
bearing  upon  this  same  subject.  A  gentleman  visited  a  deaf  and 
dumb  asylum,  and  having  looked  upon  all  the  silent  inmates,  he 
was  requested  to  ask  some  of  them  a  question  by  writing  it  on  the 
blackboard.  He  did  not  know  what  question  to  ask,  but  at  last 
he  ventured  to  write  this  inquiry  in  chalk  upon  the  board,  "  Why 
did  God  make  you  deaf  and  dumb,  and  make  me  so  that  I  could 
hear  and  speak  V '  The  eyes  of  the  silent  ones  were  filled  with 
tears  :  it  was  a  great  mystery.  Their  cleverness  had  no  answer, 
but  their  piety  made  eloquent  reply.  One  of  the  little  fellows 
went  up  to  the  board,  and,  taking  the  chalk,  wrote  under  the 
question  this  answer — **  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good 
in  thy  sight."     That  lily  we  cannot  paint  ! 


XLIX. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  hast  made  all  things  good  for  us,  and  thou  hast 
issued  to  our  hearts  a  great  welcome,  broad  as  all  thy  love.  Thou  hast 
called  to  those  who  are  hungry  and  thirsty,  thou  dost  give  them  chief 
places  in  thine  house  that  they  may  eat  and  drink  abundantly  and  forget 
all  their  pain  and  weariness.  Great  voices  of  hospitality  fall  from  the 
heavens  upon  our  weary  life  :  when  there  is  no  door  into  which  we  can 
enter  upon  the  earth,  thou  dost  call  us  upward  to  thyself  and  offer  us  wide 
liberty  and  continual  joy.  Thou  hast  made  all  things  beautiful  for  man  : 
for  him  thou  dost  enkindle  the  fires  and  light  the  flames  of  glory,  and  for 
him  thou  dost  make  the  earth  bring  forth  abundantly  everything  that 
could  nourish  his  strength  and  delight  his  taste.  What  is  man  that  thou 
art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  thou  dost  visit  him  ?  Thou 
hast  made  h.m  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  thou  crownest  him  with 
^lory  and  honour,  thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet,  thou  dost  live 
thine  own  life  over  again  in  this  mystery  of  human  pain. 

We  are  now  in  thy  chosen  house,  where  thy  book  is  read  in  our  mother- 
tongue,  and  where  is  the  holy  altar  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  the  heart 
of  Christ,  even  the  great  cross  itself,  whose  root  is  in  the  earth  and  whose 
head  is  in  thy  heavens.  Whilst  we  are  here  we  will  bless  thee  with  loud 
psalm  and  sweet  hymn  and  anthems  of  rapturous  joy,  because  it  is  here 
that  thy  broadest  revelations  brighten  before  us  and  thy  tenderest  grace 
heals  our  heart  with  infinite  comfort.  This  is  none  other  than  the  house 
of  God  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven  :  here  the  angels  come  to  speak  of 
the  risen  one,  and  here  our  tears  are  dried  as  we  hear  the  voice  from 
heaven  saying,  "  He  is  not  here,  he  is  risen."  May  we  all  rise  in  Christ, 
may  we  know  not  only  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  but  also  the  power 
of  his  resurrection  ;  may  we  live  in  his  life,  endure  throughout  his  eter- 
nity, and  at  all  times  enjoy  the  light  of  his  countenance,  which  is  life, 
and  the  spirit  of  his  benediction,  which  is  peace. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  language  of  prayer,  which  once  we  could  not 
utter  :  it  was  a  foreign  tongue,  we  knew  not  the  mystery  of  the  sacred 
speech  :  when  we  endeavoured  to  speak  it,  the  words  fell  dead  from  our 
unwilling  lips,  but  to-day  we  have  returned  to  the  shepherd  and  bishop  of 
our  souls,  and  our  heart's  desire,  expressing  itself  in  many  words,  rises 
up  to  heaven  in  prayer,  supplication,  thanksgiving,  and  adoration,  because 
in  the  Lord  we  have  all  we  need. 
Thou  dost  lead  us  to  thine  house  by  various  ways.     Some  have  come 


MATTHEW  XII.  1-13.  199 

from  the  dark  chamber  that  they  may  refresh  their  eyes  with  light  from 
heaven,  the  light  of  the  morning,  the  light  of  the  better  land,  that  being 
so  refreshed,  they  may  return  to  the  house  of  affliction  and  mourning  with 
messages  delivered  to  them  from  heaven  by  God's  own  angels.  Some 
have  come  from  homes  of  wealth,  and  delight  and  every  comfort,  and  still 
they  are  here  to  confess  that  in  thine  house  is  a  blessing  not  to  be  found 
otherwhere  :  they  have  come  for  the  child's  portion,  they  have  come  to 
claim  their  inheritance  in  Christ,  to  make  common  prayer  and  join  in 
common  song  and  enjoy  the  hospitality  provided  for  the  commonwealth 
of  the  Church.  Some  are  old  and  withered — they  can  see  now  the  end, 
and  turning  round  they  can  measure  the  whole  span  of  life,  and  see  what 
shape  it  bears  and  what  accent  it  carries  and  what  is  the  meaning  of  it  all, 
as  they  say,  "  Few  and  evil  have  been  the  days  of  thy  servant."  Lord, 
whilst  yet  the  light  lingers  in  the  western  sky,  speak  some  new  mes- 
sage, comfort  them  with  some  unheard-of  solace,  reveal  to  them  some 
hidden  beauty  of  the  infinite  Christ,  and  give  them  joy  :  may  their  last 
utterance  be  a  song  of  heaven  ! 

Regard  the  young,  the  inexperienced  and  speculative,  the  hopeful  and 
those  who  are  in  danger  from  their  great  sanguineness,  not  knowing  how 
thickly  the  ground  is  sown  with  danger,  and  how  skilfully  the  trap  and 
gin  and  snare  is  laid  by  hands  that  are  skilled  and  cruel.  The  Lord  give 
guidance  unto  such,  keenness  of  vision,  that  sympathy  with  the  right  which 
is  as  a  new  conscience,  a  high  and  gracious  sympathy,  which  is  as  insight 
which  shall  save  the  young  from  many  a  danger. 

As  for  those  who  are  hard  of  heart,  do  thou  break  them  with  thine  own 
hammer.  Thou  wilt  not  grind  them  to  powder,  but  thou  wilt  take  out  of 
them  the  heart  of  stone  and  put  within  them  the  heart  of  flesh. 

Help  us  to  live  more  and  more  in  Christ,  that  we  may  live  more  and  more 
for  Christ.  Give  us  deeper  understanding  of  the  mysteries  of  his  king- 
dom ;  give  us  clearer  insight  into  his  wonderful  words,  which  stretch 
themselves  across  all  ages,  and  utter  the  speech  and  the  accent  of  every 
man.  The  Lord  help  us  to  live  out  the  little  remainder  of  our  days  with 
a  gracious  purpose  ;  help  us  to  illustrate  the  nobleness  of  Christian  hero- 
ism ;  enable  us  in  all  things,  in  body  and  in  soul,  to  glorify  Christ,  to 
whom  we  owe  our  life,  and  at  the  last  may  our  sin  be  forgotten  in  thine 
infinite  grace.     Amen. 

Matthew  xii.  1-13. 

1.  At  that  time  Jesus  went  on  the  Sabbath  day  (the  first  after  the  Pass- 
over) through  the  corn  ;  and  his  disciples  were  an  hungered,  and  began  to 
pluck  the  ears  of  corn  (allowed  in  Deut.  xxiii.  25),  and  to  eat. 

2.  But  when  the  Pharisees  saw  it,  they  said  unto  him.  Behold,  thy  dis- 
ciples do  that  which  is  not  lawful  to  do  upon  the  Sabbath  day. 

3.  But  he  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  not  read  what  David  did,  when  he 
was  an  hungered,  and  they  that  were  with  him  ; 


DAVID  AND    THE  SHEWBREAD. 


4.  How  he  entered  into  the  house  of  God  (the  tabernacle  at  Nob),  and 
did  eat  the  shewbread,  which  was  not  lawful  for  him  to  eat,  neither  for 
them  which  were  with  him,  but  only  for  the  priests  ? 

5.  Or  have  ye  not  read  in  the  law,  how  that  on  the  Sabbath  days  the 
priests  in  the  temple  profane  the  Sabbath,  and  are  blameless?  ("There 
is  no  Sabbath  in  the  temple  :"   Rabbinical  maxim). 

6.  But  I  say  unto  you,  That  in  this  place  is  one  greater  than  the  tem- 
ple (a  greater  thing  than  the  temple  is  here). 

7.  But  if  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not 
sacrifice,  ye  would  not  have  condemned  the  guiltless. 

8.  For  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath  day. 

9.  And  when  he  was  departed  thence,  he  went  into  their  synagogue  : 

10.  And,  behold,  there  was  a  man  which  had  his  hand  withered.  And 
they  asked  him,  saying.  Is  it  lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  days?  that 
they  might  accuse  him. 

11.  And  he  said  unto  them.  What  man  shall  there  be  among  you  that 
shall  have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath  day,  will  he 
not  lay  hold  on  it,  and  lift  it  out  ? 

12.  How  much,  then,  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep  ?  Wherefore  it  is 
lawful  to  do  well  on  the  Sabbath  days. 

13.  Then  saith  he  to  the  man.  Stretch  forth  thine  hand.  And  he  stretched 
it  forth  :  and  it  was  restored  whole,  like  as  the  other. 


THE    SABBATH. 

JESUS  CHRIST  treated  the  Jewish  Sabbath  in  what  the 
Pharisees  thought  was  a  rough  manner.  In  their  sense  of 
the  term  he  never  kept  the  Sabbath  at  all.  This  was  a  contin- 
ual subject  of  controversy  between  them  :  perhaps  no  subject  of  a 
special  kind  occupies  in  its  treatment  so  large  a  space  as  this  sub- 
ject of  Sabbath  observance,  as  between  the  Pharisees  and  Jesus 
Christ.  The  fact  was  that  Jesus  Christ  was  going  to  establish  a 
Sabbath  of  his  own,  and  he  began  to  indicate  its  character  by- 
putting  the  new  wine  into  the  old  Sabbath  bottle  and  thus  break- 
ing it.  In  due  time  he  would  prepare  a  new  bottle  for  the  new 
wine,  and  thus  both  would  be  preserved. 

We  learn  from  the  incidents  reported  in  this  chapter  how  Jesus 
Christ  wished  to  have  the  Sabbath  regarded.  In  the  first  place, 
that  which  was  necessary  was  to  override  that  which  was  cere- 
monial. This  was  shown  in  the  case  of  David.  Hunger  has  no 
ceremonial  law  :  where  life  is  in  danger  ceremony  must  go  away. 
There  was  a    kind  of   bread,  as  we  have  just    seen,   which  the 


MATTHEW  XII.   1-13. 


priests  only  got  to  eat.  It  was  called  the  shewbread.  The  law 
distinctly  said  that  it  was  for  the  priests  alone.  Yet  when  David 
and  his  followers  were  seized  with  the  pains  of  hunger  he  broke 
the  law  in  the  letter,  and  yet  kept  the  law  in  the  spirit.  Always 
be  sure  what  law  it  is  you  are  talking  about  :  whether  it  is  the 
little  law,  the  incidental  and  temporary  law,  the  law  ceremonial, 
or  the  all-including  law  of  which  these  are  but  parts  or  transient 
phases.  In  the  case  of  David  and  the  people  who  followed  him, 
you  have  a  necessity  of  a  severe  kind. 

In  the  next  place  there  was  a  necessity  of  a  ceremonial  sort  by 
which  the  priests  in  the  Temple  profaned  the  Sabbath  and  were 
blameless.  Fires  were  to  be  lighted,  sacrifices  were  to  be  slain, 
the  whole  Temple  service  was  to  be  set  in  order  and  carried  out. 
Without  such  labour  the  service  would  have  been  impossible,  yet 
the  priests  performed  the  labour  and  were  blameless.  They  broke 
the  Sabbath  in  the  letter,  they  kept  it  in  the  spirit  :  they  did  that 
which  was  forbidden  to  be  done,  and  yet,  because  it  was  necessary 
to  be  accomplished,  there  was  no  blameworthiness  in  their  profana- 
tion of  the  day. 

Thus,  again,  you  must  distinguish  between  laws.  Always 
remember  that  one  law  belongs  to  another,  and  the  highest  law 
jf  life  known  amongst  us  is  the  law  that  man  must  be  preserved. 
Mean's  highest  interests  must  be  consulted  and  secured.  The  law 
of  necessity  is  above  all  laws  of  ceremony  :  the  law  of  life  deter- 
mines the  law  of  arrangement.  Well,  this  simplifies  the  whole 
Sabbath  question,  if  rightly  accepted  and  applied.  There  are 
certain  necessities  which  settle  everything  :  what  these  necessities 
are  must  be  left  to  the  individual  conscience  to  settle  :  do  not 
attempt  to  draw  time  bills  and  regulation  rules  and  schedules  of 
observance — all  that  is  mechanical,  and  possibly  all  that  is  nothing 
but  silly  childishness.  Life  cannot  be  codified,  inspiration  is 
better  than  regulation  :  if  we  have  the  right  spirit,  we  can  easily 
decide  the  right  action.  You  will  never  determine  a  question  of 
this  kind  by  approaching  it  mechanically,  with  weights  and  scales 
and  tapes  and  standards  and  measures  of  various  kinds.  It  is  a 
question  which  belongs  to  the  spirit,  to  the  inner  sanctuary,  to 
the  noblest  consciousness  of  humanity. 

This  is  the  whole  pith  and  burden  of  Christ's  meaning.  The 
Pharisees  broke  the  Sabbath  in  the  very  act  of  keeping  it,  so  others 


202  CHRISTIAN  SUNDAY  WORK. 

may  keep  the  Sabbath  in  the  very  act  of  breaking  it.  Again  and 
again  I  would  say,  do  not  attempt  to  settle  this  question  by  little 
rules  ;  you  can  only  settle  it  in  so  far  as  you  have  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord.  I  want  to  know  how  Christ  treated  the  day  ;  I  will  draw 
the  whole  of  my  inferences  from  this  spirit,  words  and  conduct. 
As  a  Christian  preacher  and  student  I  have  not  to  consider  whether 
I  will  have  a  Sabbath  or  not,  I  am  bound  in  this,  as  in  all  other 
things,  to  study  Christ,  and  by  that  study  I  will  abide. 

Jesus  Christ  lays  down  the  sovereign  law, ' '  I  will  have  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice  ;  I  will  have  the  substance,  not  the  shadow  ;  I 
will  have  the  heart's  love,  and  not  the  hands'  reluctant  service. 
This  spirit  would  settle  everything  in  the  broadest  and  divinest 
manner,  and  would  so  operate  as  to  commend  itself  to  both 
master  and  servant,  to  both  leader  and  follower.  In  this  spirit  we 
should  never  have  to  see  how  much  would  be  done  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  but  how  little.  Something  must  be  done  ;  David's  hunger 
falls  upon  us,  and  the  priests'  necessities  follow  the  Temple 
throughout  the  whole  history  of  time.  All  work  cannot  be  sus- 
pended :  God  suspends  none  of  his  own  operations  on  Sunday  ; 
the  sun  shines,  the  river  flows,  the  bird  sings,  the  fruit  ripens  on 
Sunday  as  on  Saturday,  and  yet  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  and 
blessed  it.  This  is  not  a  reading  of  the  letter,  but  a  reading  of 
the  spirit  :  the  rest  is  in  the  soul  ;  I  can  do  all  my  labour  of  the 
week  in  one  sense,  where  necessity  compels  it,  and  yet  I  can  do 
it  as  if  I  were  not  doing  it.  It  is  another  work  when  I  do  it 
under  different  conditions.  I  have  to  pursue  much  of  my  daily 
home-life  just  on  Sunday  as  on  Saturday,  and  yet  I  do  it  in  no 
Saturday  spirit,  but  with  a  new  inspiration,  broader  meaning, 
tenderer  love,  and  I  lift  up  the  action  into  a  new  atmosphere, 
and  upon  all  the  breadth  of  its  face  there  shines  the  light  of  a  new 
intent.  The  work  done  is  not  labour,  it  is  done  in  the  spirit  of  the 
day,  and  therefore  the  work  itself  becomes  real  and  sacred  rest. 

Do  not  consult  the  mechanician  as  to  how  the  Sabbath  is  to  be 
kept,  nor  the  precisian,  nor  the  purist,  nor  the  man  who  lives  in  the 
mere  letter,  and  within  the  space,  four  square,  of  an  arithmetical 
table.  On  the  Sabbath  day  the  blind  must  be  lifted,  the  bed  must 
be  made,  the  table  must  be  spread,  the  fire  must  be  lighted,  as  on 
every  other  day,  and  yet  quite  differently.  When  I  open  my 
shutter  on  the  Sunday  I  open  it  to  take  in  a  stranger  with  a  known 


MATTHEW  XII .   1-13.  203 

face,  a  visitor  from  heaven,  a  messenger  with  gospels  on  his  lips. 
When  I  light  my  Sunday  fire  it  does  not  crackle  and  smoke  like  a 
Saturday  flame  ;  it  preaches  to  me — there  is  a  sacred  glow  upon  my 
face  as  I  light  it,  and  my  heart  is  full  of  a  new  ardour,  and  I  forget 
the  toil  in  the  sacrifice. 

You  cannot  keep  the  Sabbath  by  precisian  rules.  If  I  am  ill  I 
must  have  the  doctor  ;  if  he  is  in  church  he  must  come  out.  Life 
rules  your  little  laws.  One  greater  than  the  Temple  is  in  it ;  the 
Temple  is  but  the  shadow,  robe,  type,  symbol,  and  he  represents 
all  the  higher  laws  that  gather  up  within  their  operation  all  human 
necessities  and  conditions,  and  determine  everything.  The  ships 
must  go  on  Sundays  ;  and  yet  there  is  Sunday  on  the  sea,  the 
spirit  of  rest  gets  hold  of  the  great  ship  in  the  middle  of  the  waves  ; 
and  it  is  possible,  with  the  splash  of  the  waters  around  you,  and 
the  throb  of  the  great  fire-power  stunning  your  ear,  to  be  in 
church,  nearly  in  heaven- — a  little  speck  upon  the  foam,  and  yet 
throwing  out  some  little  tendrils  or  fingers,  to  lay  hold  of  the 
upper  and  better  side  of  things.  The  city  must  be  kept  on 
Sunday,  it  must  be  watched  ;  the  law  must  be  abroad,  all  your 
institutions  that  are  to  be  healthy  and  lasting  must  be  based  upon 
broad  foundations,  and  not  upon  a  point  here  and  an  incident 
yonder. 

What  this  means  you  will  know  better  in  your  heart  than  can 
ever  be  explained  in  words.  The  kitchen  must  be  opened  on  the 
Sunday  as  well  as  the  parlour,  and  all  necessary  things  must  be 
done  by  horse  and  dog  and  man,  and  yet  they  may  be  so  done  as 
to  have  in  them  all  the  divine  music.  This  is  not  to  be  set  forth 
in  sentences  that  cannot  be  taken  to  pieces  by  critics,  but  those 
sentences  may  help  to  teach  the  deeper  meanings  which  lie  far 
down  in  the  honest  heart.  When  men  combine  to  secularise  the 
Sabbath  and  to  make  it  of  set  purpose  as  common  as  any  other 
day  in  the  week,  they  become  as  great  ceremonialists  as  the  old 
Pharisees  were  ;  they  are  secular  Pharisees,  and  they  meet  their 
old  brethren  at  the  other  end  of  the  line.  There  is  a  ceremonialism 
of  destruction  as  well  as  a  ceremonialism  of  preservation.  In  both 
cases  the  divine  meaning  may  be  lost.  In  pretending  to  do  good 
the  anti -Sabbatarians  really  do  harm  :  they  operate  upon  a  one- 
sided view  of  the  case,  and  all  infidelity  and  non-Christianity  does 
the  same  thing.     I  never  met  a  non-Christian  argument  that  did 


204  THE  SABBATH  SECULARISED. 

not  treat  life  as  if  it  were  a  straight  line  ;  it  failed  in  perspective, 
in  comprehensiveness,  in  that  wholeness,  that  entirety  of  grasp 
and  view,  which  alone  can  deal  with  the  comic-tragedy  and  tragic- 
comedy  of  this  mixed  and  self-colliding  life. 

Our  human  education  does  not  lie  upon  any  one  side  of  our 
nature  :  it  is  a  complex  process,  and  1  have  met  with  no  religion 
that  goes  round  and  round  the  whole  case  with  amplitude  of 
seizure  and  sympathy  but  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Those 
who  would  secularise  the  Sunday  degrade  the  day  as  a  certainty  from 
a  religious  point  of  view,  but  there  is  no  certainty  that  having 
degraded  it  at  one  end  they  can  elevate  it  at  the  other,  namely,  on 
the  side  of  the  people  for  whom  they  have  degraded  the  institu- 
tion. There  is  a  certain  degradation  at  the  one  end,  and  not  a 
certain  elevation  at  the  other  ;  therefore  the  ways  of  the  secularists 
in  this  matter  are  not  equal.  In  my  opinion  they  should  begin  at 
the  other  end  by  elevating  the  people  and  enlarging  and  purifying 
their  conceptions  of  sacred  and  noble  institutions.  The  Sabbath 
is  an  older  institution  than  any  picture-gallery  or  museum  that  I 
know  anything  about,  and  if  any  men  are  anxious  that  the  work. 
ing  classes  should  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  pictures,  monu- 
ments, and  curiosities,  let  them  cut  a  day  out  of  their  own  time, 
and  not  steal  a  day  which  has  another  seal  upon  it.  If  you  are 
in  awful  agonies  of  desire  that  your  working  men  should  see 
pictures,  shut  up  your  warehouse  half  a  day,  and  let  them  see 
them  at  your  expense.  If  it  really  takes  away  your  sleep  that 
somebody  cannot  see  a  museum,  then  do  you  arrange  for  their 
seeing  it  without  any  loss  on  their  part.  There  is  a  cheap  gen- 
erosity :  the  generosity  of  those  who  would  secularise  the  day  on 
these  grounds  degrades  the  day  without  certainly  elevating  the 
people.  It  is  as  if  men  should  say:  "  Let  us  put  an  end  to 
poverty  by  altering  the  law  of  property.  That  is  a  short  and  easy 
method  of  dealing  with  the  pauperism  and  the  whole  necessity  of 
the  country.  Here  we  have  certain  persons  called  merchants, 
capitalists,  millionaires,  and  here  are  certain  other  persons  with- 
out possessions  of  any  kind  :  let  us  abolish  the  law  of  property, 
and  raise  the  pauper  and  thriftless  class  by  dividing  the  money  of 
the  wealthy,  and  thus  making  all  men  equal."  One  wonders 
that  such  an  idea  never  struck  anybody  before,  it  is  so  clear,  so 
simple,  and  so  admirable — for  those  who  have  nothing.     Let  us 


MATTHEW  XII.   1-13.  205 

make  every  day  alike,  you  know.  Why  are  you  not  faithful  to 
your  own  logic  ?  Why  are  you  not  consistent  with  your  own 
principles  ? 

Now  God,  who  gave  us  all  our  time,  has  laid  his  hand  upon 
one  day  and  called  it  his.  On  that  day  we  are  asked  to  think  of 
him,  commune  with  him,  and  rest  in  him.  We  must  not  steal 
the  day  ;  we  ought  not  to  deface  it.  Works  of  necessity  must  be 
done,  and,  so  done,  are  blameless  ;  if  we  want  to  give  men  more 
time  for  recreation  or  sight-seeing  let  us  give  them  some  of  our 
own  time,  and  do  not  let  us  rob  God.  I  believe  that  great  im- 
provements are  possible  in  the  way  of  rearrangement  of  our  times 
of  labour  ;  I  believe  that  all  men  who  labour  should  have  equal 
rest  and  recreation  and  enjoyment.  I  am  not  addressing  myself 
to  that  side  of  the  question  now  ;  I  am  only  seeking  to  point  out 
that  even  things  desirable  in  themselves  may  sometimes  be  secured 
at  too  great  a  cost,  and  may  sometimes  besought  in  a  wrong  light 
and  under  the  inspiration  of  a  false  principle. 

But  Christ  says  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man.  Precisely  ; 
and  therefore  man  should  take  care  of  it.  A  false  argument  is 
often  set  up  on  this  expression,  as  if  man  could  do  what  he 
pleased  with  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  but 
was  not  made  for  man  to  destroy.  The  earth  was  made  for  man, 
but  not  for  him  to  neglect  or  desecrate.  The  very  expression 
itself  is  a  proof  of  the  sacredness  of  the  day.  It  is  not  said  that 
Monday  was  made  for  man.  A  special  meaning  attaches  to  this 
gift  of  time  ;  it  is  holy,  it  is  a  piece  cut  out,  it  is  a  sanctuary,  it  is 
a  resting-place  on  the  journey  of  life,  it  was  made  for  man,  it  was 
set  apart  for  man,  it  is  God's  gift  to  man,  it  is  a  hint  and  type  of 
heaven.  I  should  therefore  be  very  careful  how  I  touched  its 
sacredness. 

There  may  be  special  cases  in  which  the  Sabbath  may  be  pro- 
faned and  the  profaners  may  be  blameless.  If  any  man  should 
stand  up  here  and  say,  "  I  can  get  nearer  heaven  when  I  muse 
alone  in  the  field  or  in  the  forest  than  when  I  attend  any  Church," 
I  am  not  going  to  call  that  man  of  necessity  a  Sabbath-breaker  or 
a  profane  person  :  I  do  not  believe  in  his  reasoning  purely  as 
logic,  I  do  not  believe  in  the  facts  of  the  case  as  entitling  me  to 
generalise  so  as  to  include  the  whole  population  of  the  land  :  I 
would  make  special  arrangements  for  such  special  cases,  I  would 


2o6  SABBATH  OBSERVANCE. 

judge  individual  cases  with  the  largest  charity  ;  but  my  own  feel- 
ing is  this,  that  no  man  who  uses  the  Church  as  the  Church  ought 
to  be  used  can  find  anywhere  an  influence  that  ought  to  admit  of 
a  competitive  position  for  one  moment,  when  the  Church  services 
are  rightly  conducted,  in  their  music,  in  their  devotion,  in  their 
pulpit  instruction  :  when  the  revelation  of  God  is  treated  in  all 
its  firmamental  breadth  and  all  its  solar  lustrousness  there  will  be 
no  place  on  all  the  green  earth  so  attractive  and  so  grand  as  the 
house  of  God. 

We  may  have  to  begin  by  enlarging  our  definitions  of  that  very 
name.  It  is  possible  that  we  may  have  to  rearrange  our  whole 
method  of  observing  the  Sabbath  within  the  sacred  walls.  I  am  not 
set  upon  any  form  of  observing  it  in  any  Church  :  I  hold  myself 
open  to  inspiration  from  heaven,  to  guidance  and  suggestion  from 
good  men  and  experience  :  and  it  does  appear  to  me  perfectly 
possible  that  we  may  have  to  enlarge  our  conception  of  the  divine 
service  in  the  divine  house.  But  if  there  is  any  meaning  in  the 
words,  "  Day  of  God,  House  of  God,  service  Divine,"  the  Church 
ought  to  be  able  to  look  down  upon  all  competition  with  a  dignity 
that  need  not  be  contemptuous  because  of  its  superlative  and  un- 
questionable grandeur. 

I  do  not  wonder  at  people  running  away  from  certain  kinds  of 
service  ;  I  do  not  wonder  at  any  patch  of  green  being  a  more 
favourite  spot  than  the  places  where  certain  methods  prevail  of  con- 
ducting the  service  in  the  sanctuary.  I  have  attended  services 
which  have  done  me  great  harm,  and  if  the  service  was  limited  to 
what  this  or  that  man  has  done  or  said  I  would  never  enter  the 
place  again  with  any  hope  of  being  edified  or  blessed.  I  have  had 
to  exclude  the  external  and  shut  myself  up  with  God  himself,  or 
I  should  have  been  lowered  and  narrowed  and  vitiated  by  things 
pronounced  without  the  spirit  of  the  Sabbath  animating  their 
utterance  or  lilting  them  up  into  the  region  of  music. 

On  both  sides  of  the  subject  there  are  great  difficulties  and 
great  differences,  and  when  it  is  said  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man  it  was  meant  for  man  to  keep  and  not  for  man  to  throw  away. 
Professor  Tyndall  says,  in  a  really  beautiful  document,  written 
in  the  most  tuneful  English,  that  he  would  like  to  see  tramways 
from  slums  and  back  places  of  the  city  out  into  the  green  fields 
on  Sundays.     Very  good.  Professor  Tyndall,  we  will  lay  tramways, 


MATTHEW  XII.   1-13.  207 

and  you  shall  drive  the  cars.  So  many  persons  propose  these 
grand  arrangements  who  also  propose  to  be  passengers  themselves. 
I  have  never  known  any  article-writers  propose  to  be  drivers. 

The  Professor  says  that  a  rigid  Sabbatarianism  has  been  tested 
and  has  resulted  in  ghastly  failure.  I  do  not  propose  a  rigid 
Sabbatarianism  :  I  know  nothing  of  mechanical  rigidities  in  God's 
house  and  God's  service.  When  a  man  talks  about  a  rigid 
Sabbatarianism  he  changes  the  ground  of  controversy  and  changes 
the  issue  of  the  argument.  I  am  speaking  of  a  day  of  rest,  a  day 
of  joy,  a  day  of  fellowship  with  God.  But  the  Professor  must  be 
just,  and  allow  us  to  say,  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  have  seen  a 
lax  Sabbatarianism  tested,  and  the  results  have  appeared  to  us  to 
be  hideous  failures.  I  know  of  no  sight  abroad  that  has  distressed 
me  more  than  a  week  without  a  Sabbath.  I  would  avoid  narrow- 
mindedness  as  I  would  avoid  offence  against  God  and  against 
man,  but  speaking  with  my  present  information  and  under  the 
influence  of  what  I  believe  to  be  a  good  feeling,  I  would  pray 
God  that  England  might  be  saved  from  what  is  known  as  a 
Continental  Sunday. 

The  people  who  quote  the  expression  "  The  Sabbath  was  made 
for  man' '  forget  the  further  expression,  ' '  The  Son  of  man  is  Lord 
even  of  the  Sabbath  day."  The  servant,  then,  should  consult  the 
Lord  if  he  would  know  how  the  Lord's  gifts  are  to  be  enjoyed. 
What  would  Christ  have  us  do  on  this  day .''  What  value  does 
Christ  set  upon  the  day }  When  it  is  called  the  Lord' s  Day,  what 
is  the  meaning  of  the  expression  }  If  any  man  find  it  hard  to 
spend  one  day  with  Christ  let  him  eke  out  his  day  with  green 
fields  and  silvery  streams,  and  tuneful  woodlands,  and  all  the 
other  enjoyments  of  nature.  To  me  the  day  is  too  short  :  I 
would  the  sanctuary  could  be  opened  with  the  dawn  and  closed 
with  the  midnight  bell.  What  is  the  day  meant  to  be  .'  A  day  of 
joy.  This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made  ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be 
glad  in  it.  It  is  resurrection  day  ;  its  morning  opens  with  visions 
of  angels,  with  empty  tombs,  with  risen  lives  and  sweet  comfort- 
ings  of  peace.  It  is  the  day  on  which  the  seed  brings  forth  sixty 
and  a  hundredfold  ;  the  heart  sees  widening  heavens,  and  hears 
supernal  music,  and  responds  to  new  calls  of  duty,  and  hears  a 
voice  ruling  the  tumult  of  time  and  hushing  the  wild  uproar  of  all 
passion.     To-day  the  heart  drinks  wine  with  Christ,  to-day  the 


2o8  THE  SABBATH  A   DAY  OF   JOY. 

banqueting-hall  is  open  and  the  hungry  are  called  to  great  feasting. 
Never  was  this  intended  to  be  a  day  of  gloom,  of  long  faces,  of 
dejected  aspect  and  afflictive  memories.  Yes,  some  so-called 
Sabbatarians  have  injured  the  day,  have  degraded  its  meaning  ; 
they  have  narrowed  its  benevolent  purpose,  they  have  assumed  a 
solemnity  they  did  not  feel,  and  they  have  lost  the  naturalness  of 
their  voice  in  a  whining  cant  as  offensive  to  God  as  it  is  objection- 
able to  man.  To  me  the  day  is  full  of  joy,  a  great  golden  day, 
wanting  only  in  one  thing,  and  that  is  in  duration— so  short,  a 
flash  and  gone.  If  ever  we  may  be  glad  even  to  passionateness  of 
joy  it  is  on  this  day,  with  its  resurrection  light  and  its  triumphant 
Lord. 

We  are  sometimes  asked  if  it  is  not  better  to  go  to  a  picture- 
gallery  than  to  a  public-house.  There  is  no  meaning  or  pith  in 
the  question  ;  we  are  not  shut  up  to  that  alternative.  The  ques- 
tion does  not  narrow  itself  into  picture-gallery  or  public-house  ; 
if  it  did  so  we  could  settle  it  in  a  moment.  Certainly  to  the 
picture-gallery  and  remain  there  all  day.  Beware  of  the  sophis- 
tical inquiry  whether  it  is  not  better  to  do  this  than  to  do  that ; 
no  greater  argument  rests  upon  such  narrow  alternatives.  .  It  is 
better  to  steal  wheat  than  to  steal  nettles,  it  is  better  to  steal  oil- 
paintings  than  to  steal  photographs,  it  is  better  to  tell  lies  for  a 
thousand  a  year  than  to  tell  lies  for  a  hundred  a  year — but  this  is 
not  the  question,  this  is  a  sophist's  inquiry.  The  question  is. 
What  is  right  P  what  is  good  ?  what  is  God's  law.?  what  is  best 
for  the  human  family  at  large  .?  The  question  can  have  no  diffi- 
culty as  to  the  true  value  and  purpose  of  the  Sabbath.  Christ  gave 
the  Church  his  laws,  and  I  should  wish  to  keep  my  Sabbath  just 
as  Jesus  kept  his.  My  distinct  view  is  that  instead  of  having  too 
much  time  for  religious  service  and  instruction  we  have  too  little. 
Rather  than  destroy  one  Sabbath  I  would  create  two.  The  rest  is 
always  profitable.  You  do  not  rest  half  enough,  you  men  of 
business.  Napoleon  truly  said  that  no  man  could  long  work  for 
seven  days  in  the  week.  Religious  rest  is  indispensable.  He  is 
the  true  benefactor  of  England  who  holds  to  the  sanctity  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  makes  that  sanctity  not  a  miserable  gloom,  but  a 
radiant  and  grateful  joy. 


See  "Notes  on  the  Sabbath"  at  end  of  Volume. 


PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  hast  set  us  here  a  little  while,  and  thou  hast  re- 
quired great  things  at  our  hands.  Is  not  thy  demand  upon  us  a  proof  of 
the  divinity  that  is  within  us,  and.  of  the  great  capacity  with  which  thou 
hast  endowed  and  blessed  our  life  ?  Surely  thou  wouldst  not  gather  grapes 
of  thorns  :  thou  hast  planted  us  a  goodly  vine,  and  thou  dost  look  that  we 
should  bring  forth  good  grapes.  Teach  us  to  find  in  ourselves  what  thou 
wouldst  find  in  us  ;  thus  may  we  answer  the  divine  demand,  and  with  all 
diligence  and  faithfulness  of  industry  do  those  things  to  which  thou  hast 
called  us,  and  act  with  a  loyal  spirit  in  all  the  engagements  and  endur- 
ances of  time.  We  bless  thee  that  now  and  again  we  obtain  some  glimpses 
of  our  true  selves,  and  we  trace  our  ancestry  back  to  thine  own  hand,  thou 
Mighty  One,  for  there  is  in  us  a  stirring  of  divinity,  and  there  is  within  us  a 
yearning  which  all  thy  heavens  fail  to  satisfy  and  which  thyself  alone 
canst  bless  with  sweet  content.  Enable  us  at  all  times  to  realise  our  son- 
ship,  to  claim  our  inheritance,  to  walk  worthy  of  our  origin  and  of  our 
destiny.  These  things  we  know  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  :  he 
only  hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  in  the  gospel  ;  he  called  us 
with  a  great  calling  and  clothed  us  with  a  great  power — he  is  our  Priest, 
and  he  will  make  our  prayer  prevail  ;  he  is  our  Redeemer,  so  we  will 
draw  our  right  hand  from  our  own  protection  ;  he  is  our  atonement  and 
our  sacrifice,  so  will  we  hide  our  sin  in  his  infinite  grace. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  the  kindness  which  has  made  the  week  rich  :  thou 
hast  kept  our  eyes  from  tears,  our  feet  from  falling,  and  our  soul  from 
death.  Thou  hast  watched  the  return  of  our  hunger,  and  thou  hast  antic- 
ipated with  satisfaction  the  pain  of  its  demand.  Thou  hast  made  our 
bed  in  our  affliction.  Thou  hast  comforted  us  with  all  healing  solaces. 
Thou  hast  touched  our  tears,  and  they  have  been  filled  with  light,  and  in  all 
things  thou  hast  been  unto  us  sweeter  than  honey,  yea,  sweeter  than  the 
honeycomb.  So  have  we  come  to  thine  house  with  a  multitude  of  hymns 
and  many  psalms  and  desires  after  thee,  keen  as  the  passion  of  love  and 
resolved  as  the  determination  of  the  whole  heart.  Thou  wilt  not  disap- 
point us  ;  thou  hast  no  rude  answer  to  those  who  pray  to  thee  from  the 
shadow  of  the  Cross  ;  thine  answers  are  plentiful  in  love,  and  gracious 
and  condescending  and  all  pitiful,  and  in  the  look  of  thine  eye  is  there 
hope  for  mankind,  as  in  every  tone  of  thy  voice  there  is  a  gospel  for  the 
trusting  and  penitent  heart.  What  shall  we  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all 
his  benefits  towards  us  ?  We  have  nothing  of  our  own  to  give  ;  the  flowers 
of  the  field  were  thine  before  they  were  ours  ;  we  are  not  our  own,  we 


2IO  PRA  YER. 

ourselves  are  bought  with  a  price,  so  we  have  nothing  to  give  thee,  on 
thine  altar  we  can  lay  no  sacrifice  that  is  primarily  our  own — what  then 
shall  we  render  to  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  towards  us  ?  We  can  only 
take  of  the  offered  cup,  and  find  in  it  salvation  ;  standing  with  it  in  our 
hand  before  thee  we  must  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

We  bless  thee  for  the  revelation  of  thyself  which  we  find  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
though  we  cannot  understand  one  word  of  it,  yet  it  is  music  without  words, 
it  is  tenderness  without  expression  that  we  can  comprehend.  Thou  dost 
tell  us  in  thy  Book  that  God  is  love,  but  what  love  is  thou  dost  not  tell  us. 
Behold  the  explanation  is  a  mystery,  and  the  answer  a  difficulty.  God 
is  light,  but  we  know  not  what  light  is,  so  how  can  we  tell  what  God  is? 
Behold,  to  these  words  there  is  no  explanation,  they  are  not  equal  words, 
we  are  lost  in  them,  and  yet  we  feel  borne  up  by  them  as  by  subtle  and 
infinite  strength. 

Enable  us  to  read  thy  word  again  and  again  in  the  light  of  every  day, 
that  at  last  we  may  come  to  have  somewhat  of  the  music  breathing  in 
our  souls,  and  giving  us  the  order  and  command  of  life.  Wondrous  word, 
never  to  be  explained,  always  to  be  as  a  sun  that  may  not  be  looked  at 
too  closely,  and  yet  always  as  a  sun  giving  the  light  in  which  alone  we 
can  safely  walk. 

Give  unto  us  all  we  need,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  especially  that  pureness 
of  heart,  that  modesty  of  mind  which  can  see  God  and  follow  him  in  all 
the  darkness  of  his  way.  Strip  us  of  everything  that  intercepts  our  view 
of  thy  providence,  blind  us  to  every  fascination  but  the  attraction  of  thine 
own  wisdom,  love,  purity,  and  grace  ;  give  us  full  satisfaction  of  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  soul  without  explanation,  an  eternal  mystery, 
yet  an  eternal  joy.  Thou  hast  set  us  in  a  circle  of  mysteries  :  we  are 
mysteries  to  ourselves,  the  light  is  a  mystery,  and  every  season  of  the 
year,  and  every  outgoing  of  the  heart,  the  throb  of  every  impulse  and  the 
passion  of  every  desire — to  these  we  have  no  answers,  we  are  smitten 
with  daily  amazement,  and  our  amazement  brings  us  into  the  spirit  and 
posture  of  prayer.  Gladden  us  for  a  little  while,  for  the  clouds  are  often 
thick  ;  help  us  up  the  hill,  for  it  is  steep  beyond  the  power  of  our  climb- 
ing ;  give  us  answers  to  some  of  the  riddles  that  vex  our  daily  inquiry, 
lest  we  be  discouraged  and  fall  a  prey  to  impious  dejection.  Give  us  lift- 
ing up  in  the  day  of  trouble  ;  when  life  is  narrowed  into  a  point  or  be- 
comes but  one  great  cloud,  then  speak  to  us  as  we  fear  to  enter  into  the 
darkness,  and  let  a  voice  from  heaven  call  us  to  hope  and  confidence  and 
joy. 

Bless  the  stranger  within  our  gates  to-day,  and  give  him  to  feel  that  he 
is  in  his  Father's  house  and  therefore  is  no  stranger  here.  Speak  to  the 
desolate  heart  and  bring  back  some  memory  that  shall  be  precious  as  a 
light  of  hope.  Take  up  every  little  child  in  thine  arms,  thou  lover  of 
children,  bless  each  with  the  kiss  of  thine  affection  and  the  seal  of  thy  care, 
and  return  each  to  the  father  and  the  mother,  anointed  with  the  unction 
from  on  high. 


MATTHEW  XII.  14-37.  211 

Speak  to  our  sick  ones  and  they  shall  be  sick  no  more  :  though  the  body 
itself  have  written  upon  it  the  condemnation  of  death,  there  shall  be 
resurrection  in  the  soul  and  life  immortal  in  the  heart.  Speak  to  the  way- 
ward one,  the  hard-hearted,  those  who  are  set  against  thee  in  cruel  obsti- 
nacy, breathe  thy  gospel  upon  such.  O,  thou  who  hast  the  all-melting  fire, 
do  thou  bring  to  tears  and  to  contrition  those  who  have  hardened  them- 
selves against  thee. 

Pity  our  infirmity,  and  call  it  a  cloud  :  pity  our  sin  and  call  it  a  thick 
cloud,  and  cast  our  sin  behind  thee  as  a  cloud  and  our  transgression  as  a 
thick  cloud,  thou  God  of  the  Cross,  of  the  atoning  blood,  of  the  uplifted 
Lamb,  of  the  eternal,  the  infinite  Sacrifice.     Amen. 

Matthew  xii.  14-37. 

14.  Then  the  Pharisees  went  out,  and  held  a  council  against  him,  how 
they  might  destroy  him. 

15.  But  when  Jesus  knew  it,  he  withdrew  himself  from  thence  :  and 
great  multitudes  followed  him,  and  he  healed  them  all  ; 

16.  And  charged  them  that  they  should  not  make  him  known  : 

17.  That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  Esaias  the  prophet, 
saying, 

18.  Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  have  chosen  ;  my  beloved,  in  whom 
my  soul  is  well  pleased :  I  will  put  my  spirit  upon  him,  and  he  shall  shew 
judgment  to  the  Gentiles. 

19.  He  shall  not  strive,  nor  cry  ;  neither  shall  any  man  hear  his  voice 
in  the  streets. 

20.  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  smoking  flax  shall  he  not 
quench,  till  he  send  forth  judgment  unto  victory. 

21.  And  in  his  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust. 

22.  Then  was  brought  unto  him  one  possessed  with  a  devil,  blind,  and 
dumb  :  and  he  healed  him,  insomuch  that  the  blind  and  dumb  both  spake 
and  saw. 

23.  And  all  the  people  were  amazed,  and  said.  Is  not  this  the  son  of 
David  ? 

24.  But  when  the  Pharisees  heard  it,  they  said.  This  fellow  doth  not 
cast  out  devils,  but  by  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  devils. 

25.  And  Jesus  knew  their  thoughts,  and  said  unto  them.  Every  kingdom 
divided  against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation  ;  and  every  city  or  house 
divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand. 

26.  And  if  Satan  cast  out  Satan,  he  is  divided  against  himself  ;  how  shall 
then  his  kingdom  stand  ? 

27.  And  if  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  children 
cast  them  out  ?  therefore  they  shall  be  your  judges. 

28.  But  if  I  cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  then  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  come  unto  you. 

29.  Or  else  how  can  one  enter  into  a  strong  man's  bouse,  and  spoil  his 


212  EXAGGERATION  OF  PIETY, 

goods,  except  he  first  bind  the  strong  man  ?  and  then  he  will  spoil  his 
house. 

30.  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with 
me  scattereth  abroad. 

31.  Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall 
be  forgiven  unto  men  :  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall 
not  be  forgiven  unto  men. 

32.  And  whosoever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall  be 
forgiven  him  :  but  whosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not 
be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come. 

33.  Either  make  the  tree  good,  and  his  fruit  good  ;  or  else  make  the  tree 
corrupt,  and  his  fruit  corrupt  :  for  the  tree  is  known  by  his  fruit. 

34.  O  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye,  being  evil,  speak  good  things? 
for  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh. 

35.  A  good  man  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  the  heart  bringeth  forth  good 
things  :  and  an  evil  man  out  of  the  evil  treasure  bringeth  forth  evil  things. 

36.  But  I  say  unto  you.  That  every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak, they 
shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment. 

37.  For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou 
shalt  be  condemned. 

MIGHTY  WORDS  AND  MIGHTY  JUDGMENTS. 

'"'  I  ^HEN  the  Pharisees  went  out  and  held  a  council  against  him, 
JL  how  they  might  destroy  him,"  because  he  had  broken 
the  Sabbath  day.  The  penalty  would  seem  too  much,  but  it  is 
the  way  with  passionate  men  that  they  should  overleap  themselves, 
and  show  by  the  severity  of  their  penalties  some  sign  of  the 
errors  of  their  own  supposed  piety.  You  will  generally  find  that 
a  man's  condemnation  of  other  people  is  meant  to  be  a  recommen- 
dation of  himself.  Study  this  law  of  social  penalties,  and  you 
will  be  amazed,  I  think,  to  find  how  constantly  it  operates  in  this 
direction.  A  man  severely  condemns  this  or  that  offence  on  the 
part  of  his  fellow- creatures.  Is  it  a  really  honest  judgment  upon 
the  offence  or  the  sin  .?  Is  it  not  oftentimes  a  backhanded  com- 
pliment to  himself,  as  who  should  say,  "What  a  virtuous  man  I 
am  :  how  my  indignation  burns  like  an  oven  against  such  offences. 
Trust  me,  I  am  judge  and  purist  and  honourable  man  .?" 

The  Pharisees  sought  to  destroy  Christ  because  he  had  broken 
the  Sabbath  day.  This  was  the  exaggeration  of  piety — a  piety 
that,  by  its  own  exaggeration,  broke  itself,  and  became  impiety,  so 
that  extremes  met.      But  what  could  you  expect  from  men  who 


MATTHEW  XII.   14-37.         •  213 

actually  wrote  in  plain  letters  this  doctrine,  that  to  eat  with  un- 
washen  hands  was  more  criminal  than  homicide  ?  That  to  eat 
with  unwashen  hands,  let  me  explain  to  the  children,  was  worse 
than  to  kill  a  man.  It  is  thus  that  good  doing  falls  into  Phari- 
saical impiety  when  it  is  left  without  a  divine  and  living  centre  ; 
this  is  what  we  come  to  in  the  absence  of  a  legitimate  and  ade- 
quate authority  :  our  morality  becomes  offensive  ;  we  rearrange  it : 
we  put  it  in  new  lights,  and  place  it  at  new  angles,  and  we  make 
experiments  of  it,  and  we  run  it  through  all  the  gamut  of  our  own 
imagination,  until  at  last  it  becomes  the  wildest  farce,  the  most 
consummate  and  intolerable  nuisance.  We  want  a  standard 
authority,  a  court  of  appeal,  a  law  that  says,  "  Thou  shalt  and 
thou  shalt  not,"  and  a  spirit  which  interprets  that  law  with  all  the 
breadth  of  poetry,  and  yet  with  all  the  clearness  and  narrowness 
of  the  highest  rectitude.  This  law  and  this  spirit  we  find  in  him 
only  who  is  the  Son  of  man. 

' '  But  when  Jesus  knew  it,  he  withdrew  himself  from  thence. ' ' 
This  was  the  true  courage  ;  it  was  no  use  opposing  physical  force 
to  physical  force.  The  man  whose  life  is  founded  upon  a  great 
plan  does  not  live  by  mere  surprises,  nor  does  he  trust  to  what  is 
called  the  fool's  Bible,  namely,  the  chapter  of  accidents.  He 
removes  the  occasion  ;  he  will  not  even  lead  his  enemies  into 
temptation  ;  he  can  always  get  out  of  the  way.  No  man  could 
hide  himself  so  impenetrably  as  Jesus  Christ,  no  man  could  look 
so  dumb.  He  looked  at  Herod  until  Herod  was  glad  to  call  in  a 
score  of  servants  to  keep  him  company.  No  man  could  be  so 
silent  as  Christ,  could  withdraw  himself  to  such  infinite  distances 
as  Christ,  even  whilst  he  stayed  and  looked  at  you.  He  frightened 
Pilate  like  a  ghost   leering  out  of  the  darkness. 

This  was  part  of  the  wisdom  of  Christ,  that  he  should  not 
bring  his  enemies  into  temptation  to  kill  him.  He  kept  back 
force  by  that  subtlest  and  mightiest  of  all  forces,  true  prudence. 
Force,  thou  fool,  is  not  in  thy  fist ;  that  is  the  meanest  of  weapons  ; 
it  is  in  wisdom,  compassion,  abstention  from  violence,  in  the 
negativeness  that  simply  withdraws  and  calmly  awaits. 

Yet  Jesus  Christ  could  not  withdraw  alone  under  such  circum- 
stances. "  Great  multitudes  followed  him. "  The  multitudinous 
heart  knew  Christ,  the  sectarian  heart  hated  him.  Which  is  yours 
— which  is  mine — the  heart  that  would  slay  him  because  of   his 


214  CHRIST'S  USE  OF  MIRACLES. 

violation  of  a  rule,  or  the  heart  that  would  trust  him  because  of 
the  pain  of  a  great  necessity  ? 

"  But  Jesus  Christ  was  so  distressed  with  his  official  reception, 
or  reception  by  the  official  mind,  that  he  paid  no  heed  to  the 
multitudes,  fell  into  a  great  gloom — his  lips  were  shut  up  in  stub- 
bom  silence,  and  his  hand,  that  had  never  been  put  out  but  to 
bless,  fell  in  paralysis  at  his  side."  The  story  might  well  have 
read  so,  but  it  reads  wholly  different.  ' '  He  healed  them  all. ' ' 
But  there  was  a  council  whispering  away  yonder  in  the  city,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  whisper  was  the  death  of  this  healing  Man. 
He  nevertheless  kept  on  with  his  healing.  Let  that  be  your  policy 
and  mine ;  if  men  hate  us,  let  us  heal  all  who  come  lovingly 
within  our  influence.  Beware  of  the  evil  influences  of  mere 
disgust.  Never  be  disgusted.  Look  at  the  work,  and  not  at  the 
difficulties  of  the  way ;  look  at  the  Master,  and  not  at  the  provo- 
cations given  you  by  many  of  his  servants — have  the  ertd  in  view. 
Jesus  Christ  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  looking 
onward  to  the  glory  that  was  to  come.  This  is  the  secret  of 
steady,  continuous,  and  divine  work.  Little  natures  fly  off  on 
little  excuses.  Little  natures  gather  up  all  the  provocations  that 
have  been  launched  against  them  until  they  become  one  great 
agony  which  the  mind  can  no  longer  bear.  Jesus  Christ  kept  on 
healing  the  multitudes,  though  councils  gathered  against  him,  and 
officers  of  the  Church  made  it  their  one  business  to  shed  his 
blood.  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  that  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  the 
fellow  of  God,  but  emptied  himself  and  became  a  servant  and 
obedient — obedient  unto  the  death  of  the  cross. 

"And  charged  them  that  they  should  not  make  him  known," 
that  a  great  prophecy  might  be  fulfilled.  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
want  to  be  made  known  through  his  miracles  only  ;  it  was  a  poor 
thing  to  be  known  as  the  chief  of  magicians,  which  he  might  have 
been  mistaken  for  by  those  who  had  not  the  true  reading  of  the 
signs  and  wonders  which  he  came  to  perform.  He  knew  that  they 
would  take  the  narrow  view,  they  would  read  the  lines  upon  the 
surface,  they  would  not  hear  the  inner  music  nor  see  the  inner 
light,  nor  feel  the  inner  pathos  ;  they  would  talk  about  miracles 
and  wonders  and  startling  signs,  and  thus  would  feed  their  curi- 
osity, and  pay  no  attention  to  the  deeper  hunger  of  the  heart. 


MATTHEW  XII.   14-37.  215 

Jesus  Christ  never   made  much  of   his  miracles,  except   in   an 
introductory   and    illuminative  sense.      He    never   wished    to  be 
known  through  his  miracles.      You  cannot  point  to  an  instance  in 
which   he  said,  "This  miracle  is  enough  to  astound  the  world  and 
bring  it  to  a  spiritual  conviction  regarding  my  Messiahship. ' '     If 
ever  he  referred  to  them  it  was  to  satisfy  vulgar  curiosity,  and   not 
to  satisfy  a  deep  spiritual  instinct.      Now  and  again  he  had  to  point 
to  his  miracles,  but  it  cost  him  something  to  stoop  to  such  con- 
descension as  to  indicate  the  mere  issues  of  his  power.     His  friends 
were  always  tempting  him  in  this  direction.      They  took   the  low, 
vulgar,  and  narrow  view,  which  we  are  all  inclined  to  take  of  great 
souls.     We  wonder  how  they  do  not  do  more  ;  we   could  show 
them  how  to  come  more  boldly  out,  and   to  take  the  age  so  as  to 
incite  in  it  a  profounder  amazement  and  a  keener  surprise.     We 
knorw  what  to  do,  though  these  great  souls  know  it  not  themselves. 
So  Jesus  Christ's  friends  came    round  about  him    once   and  said, 
' '  If  thou  do  these  things  show  thyself  to  the  world. ' '     That  is  the 
vulgar  Christianity  of  this  day,  not  seeing  its  spiritual  aspect,  not 
feeling  its  tender  unction,  not  knowing  the  meaning  of  the  compul- 
sion of  pure  love.      Tell  me  if  the  world  or  the  Church  has  got  one 
inch  beyond  this  programme  of  the  friends  and  relatives  of  Jesus 
Christ,   namely,    "If   thou   do  these  things,  show  thyself   to  the 
world.      Make  a  show  of  the  miracles,  publish  a  list  of  them,  take 
the  greatest  place  that  is  at  liberty,  and  repeat  these  miracles  night 
by  night  to  thronging  multitudes.     Take  thy  position  at  the  front. 
That  is  the  programme  which  makes  a  splutter  at  the  first,  but 
that  dies  like  a  spark  in  the  river.      There  is  no  solidity  in  it, 
nothing  lasting.      The  true  programme  is — Be  true,  love  the  truth, 
move  in  God,  be  silent  because  of  the  very  majesty  of  thy  faith. 
Less  faith  would  mean  noise  and  crying  and  great  demonstration  ; 
completeness  means  quietness. 

Herein  are  so  many  mistakes  that  are  made  about  men  and 
things.  I  have  observed  as  men  grow  in  education  and  in  wisdom, 
and  in  all  moral  and  spiritual  refinement,  they  grow  in  composure. 
The  last  result  of  education  is  peace,  quietness,  rest.  The  vulgar 
man  looks  at  the  man  of  deep  thought  and  great  learning,  and 
says,  ' '  Not  very  happy  looking,  is  he .?  His  eyes  were  nearly  shut, 
his  mouth  was  firmly  set,  and  he  seemed  to  be  looking  at  nothing. 
The  man  was  beyond  the  appearance  of  looking,  he  was  absorbing 


2i6  THE  PURPOSE  OF  CHRIST'S  LIFE. 


everything  all  the  while,  and,  as  he  addeJ  feeling  to  feeling  and 
line  to  line  in  the  upper  progress  of  his  soul,  he  lost  the  fuss,  the 
noise,  the  love  of  demonstration  which  belonged  to  the  earlier 
period  of  progress  than  the  one  which  he  had  attained.  Jesus 
would  influence  the  world  on  permanent  lines  and  from  permanent 
centres  ;  he  was  not  an  acrobat  that  would  fling  himself  into  fantastic 
attitudes  in  the  air  to  cause  a  moment's  laugh  or  shout,  and  then 
die  away — he  takes  the  ages  to  grow  in,  he  takes  all  time  for  his 
summer  and  his  harvest,  and  he  reveals  himself  not  to  our  surprise 
or  curiosity  or  haste,  but  to  the  ages,  in  all  the  vastness  of  their 
compass  and  all  the  profoundness  of  their  solemnity. 

By  a  very  beautiful  figure  is  the  peacefulness  of  his  disposition 
indicated.  "A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  smoking  flax 
shall  he  not  quench,  till  he  send  forth  judgment  unto  victory." 
What  is  this  bruised  reed }  Is  it  as  a  bulrush,  crushed  by  some 
great  beast  as  he  moves  towards  the  river  !  Jesus  Christ  takes  it 
up  and  rejoints  it,  or  spares  it,  or  makes  nature  pitiful  to  it  with 
extra  nursing  and  love — for  nature  is  a  great  mother,  healing  every 
scar  and  hiding  every  wound  and  working  a  great  wizardry  of  con- 
cealment around  all  the  great  gashes  and  bruises  of  the  world. 
Or  is  the  reed  the  musical  instrument  of  the  primitive  kind,  on 
which  the  shepherd  played  upon  the  hills  and  in  the  valleys,  and 
had  it  got  out  of  order  so  that  the  tune  would  no  longer  come  out 
of  it?  Jesus, Christ  says,  "Give  it  to  me,  and  I  will  repair  it,  and 
that  bruised  reed  shall  be  as  musical  as  ever."  He  did  not  come 
to  destroy  but  to  save,  and  the  exquisiteness  and  the  perfectness 
of  his  saving  purpose  are  indicated  in  this  analogy,  that  even  the 
bruised  reed,  not  worthy  the  saving,  is  one  of  the  fragments  that 
he  will  gather  up  that  nothing  be  lost. 

' '  The  smoking  flax  he  will  not  quench. "  Is  it  some  poor  man' s 
one  candle  just  going  out,  an  inch  of  wick  and  no  more,  and  will 
he  take  it  and  shield  it,  or  wave  it  gently  in  the  air  so  as  to  renew 
its  life  ?  Is  it  the  one  mean  spark  on  which  everything  depends, 
and  will  he  put  his  arms  all  round  about  it  like  a  great  defence, 
or  will  he  breathe  upon  it  so  as  to  save  its  flickering  flame  till  it 
burst  out  and  seize  the  entire  substance  and  consummate  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  lighted  ?  Take  it  in  any  way,  it  means  this 
— that  the  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to  destroy  but  to  save.  He  is 
mighty  to  save  :  he  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,     Thou 


MATTHEW  XII.   14-37.  217 

shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save.  This  being  the 
purpose  of  his  life,  the  whole  meaning  of  his  incarnation,  you 
will  find  that  everything  falls  into  its  proper  place  in  relation  to 
the  sovereignty  of  this  aim.  Do  not  read  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  if  it  were  a  series  of  unrelated  anecdotes  ;  find  the  central  pur- 
pose of  it,  and  see  how  everything  sets  itself  in  happy  crystallisation 
around  that  purpose,  and  helps  to  explain  and  commend  it. 

Having  been  engaged  with  great  multitudes  and  healing  them 
all,  the  Saviour  is  next  engaged  with  an  individual  instance. 
' '  Then  was  brought  unto  him  one  possessed  with  a  devil,  blind, 
and  dumb."  Sometimes  the  one  case  is  the  multitudinous  in- 
stance, sometimes  you  find  in  one  case  the  adding  up  of  a  host 
of  cases.  Devil,  blind,  dumb,  pronounced  incurable,  written  down 
amongst  the  hopeless — it  seemed  to  be  a  single  instance.  In 
reality  it  was  a  multitude  of  cases  all  in  one.  Every  one  of  us  is 
a  multitude  in  this  sense.  Life  is  not  all  in  little  drops  of  ink  or 
blood,  which  can  be  indicated  by  brief  names  and  summed  up  in 
an  etcetera.  In  my  heart,  in  your  heart  is  there  a  legion  of  devils, 
and  yet  the  plural  and  the  singular  come  together  in  most  sugges- 
tive conjunction  in  the  delivery  of  that  fact.  "  What  is  thy  name .''" 
said  Christ.  The  answer  was,  ' '  My  name  is  legion. ' '  Not  our 
name  is  legion — my.  ' '  I  am  many  in  one,  I  am  one  in  many.  I 
am  not  broken  up  into  a  multitude  of  incoherences,  but  I  am  one. " 
Study  human  history  and  get  from  it  what  hints  you  can  of  the 
diabolic  administration,  and  they  will  all  help  you  to  understand 
that  the  crowning  characteristic  of  the  diabolic  monarchy  is  per- 
sistent and  indestructible  unity.  You  never  find  Satan  divided 
against  himself. 

Now  the  Pharisees  come  again  upon  him.  They  heard  of  this 
instance,  and  they  said,  "This  fellow  doth  not  cast  out  devils  but 
by  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  devils. ' '  They  have  been  unable 
to  MI  him,  but  it  is  still  within  the  compass  of  their  malignity  to 
traduce  him .  Once  your  Saviour  was  called  ' '  This  fellow, ' '  once 
a  reed  was  taken  and  with  it  he  was  smitten  on  the  head,  once  that 
face  was  spat  upon,  once  that  unwrinkled  cheek  was  smitten,  and 
the  work  was  never  given  up  for  a  moment.  He  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame,  because  of  the  glory  that  was  set  before  him. 
Poor  hasteful  man,  thou  dost  want  to  be  a  king  all  at  once,  not  know- 
ing that  any  kingdom  that  is  worth  having  is  entered  by  a  strait  gate 


2i8  A  KINGDOM  DIVIDED. 

and  approached  by  a  narrow  path.     Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate, 
for  strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is  the  road  that  leadeth  unto  life. 

This  instance,  however,  gives  us  a  new  view  of  the  ministry  of 
Jesus.  He  seldom  condescended  merely  to  argue  with  his  oppo- 
nents, he  simply  pursued  his  work  and  allowed  his  work  to  be  his 
witness.  In  this  case,  however,  he  turns  round  upon  those  who 
traduce  him  and  answers  them  argumentatively.  Let  us  be 
present  when  he  answers  his  enemies — there  is  always  a  treat  in 
store  then.  There  was  no  such  replicant  as  Christ  :  his  answers 
admitted  of  no  retort ;  no  man,  according  to  this  history,  ever 
ventured  to  reply  to  his  answers.  Collect  the  answers  of  Christ 
to  his  enemies,  and  tell  me  if  anything  can  exceed  the  polish  of 
their  wit  or  the  pathos  of  their  feeling.  Here  is  a  case  in  point. 
Having  read  the  thoughts  of  the  Pharisees  and  understood  the 
case,  he  answered  them  logically.  "Every  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation,  and  every  city  or  house 
divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand.  But  if  Satan  cast  out  Satan, 
he  is  divided  against  himself — how  then  shall  his  kingdom  stand .?" 
As  if  he  had  said,  ' '  See  the  absurdity  of  your  position  from  a 
merely  logical  point  of  view.  If  Satan  were  to  cast  out  Satan,  his 
kingdom  would  be  overthrown  by  his  own  hand,  and  if  I  by 
Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  children,  or  your 
countrymen,  cast  them  out  ?  You  are  making  a  fool  of  the  very 
devil  you  seek  to  credit  with  this  mystery  of  wonder." 

Thus  he  reduces  to  absurdity  the  thought  or  suggestion  of  the 
Pharisees.  The  devil  is  one,  and  he  works  with  all  the  strength 
of  unity.  Do  you  know  what  the  supreme  prayer  of  the  Turk  is  ? 
You  may  be  surprised  to  hear  it,  but  it  is  a  wise  prayer  from  the 
Turk's  altar.  He  prays  to  his  God  that  the  discords  of  the 
Christians  may  never  be  settled.  Wise  Turk,  cunning  Turk,  he 
prays  that  we  as  Christians  may  never  settle  our  controversies,  for 
whilst  we  are  fighting  he  is  safe.  It  is  the  devil's  prayer,  if  ever 
he  turn  his  eyes  of  smoke  and  flame  to  the  blue  heavens,  that  the 
Churches  may  never  settle  their  grievances,  and  never  bring  to  a 
happy  harmonious  reconciliation  the  differences  which  trouble 
and  vex  them.  He  lives  upon  our  discordances ;  there  is  joy  in 
the  presence  of  the  angels  of  hell  over  every  fight  that  divides  and 
enfeebles  the  Church. 


MATTHEW  XII .   14-37.  219 

Having  answered  his  assailants  logically,  he  proceeds  to  answer 
them  judicially.  Standing  and  looking  at  them  as  a  scourging 
fire,  he  says,  "Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  all  manner  of  sin  and 
blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men,  but  the  blasphemy  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men."  So  then  Chris- 
tianity is  more  than  an  argument ;  an  argument  it  certainly  is, 
having  command  of  all  the  forces  of  logic  and  wit,  swift  repartee 
and  complete  reply  ;  but  Christianity  is  not  a  battle  of  words,  it  is 
a  judgment  upon  the  spirit,  it  is  an  anathema  or  it  is  a  benediction, 
it  is  the  savour  of  life  unto  life  or  the  savour  of  death  unto  death. 
When  you  touch  this  Christianity,  you  touch  something  more  than 
a  mere  competitor  for  your  intellectual  appreciation  and  your  in- 
tellectual confidence  :  it  is  as  a  stone  which,  if  a  man  fall  upon,  he 
shall  be  broken  to  pieces — happy  breaking — or  if  it  fall  upon  the  man 
it  will  grind  him  to  powder,  and  there  are  no  hands  with  skill  and 
strength  enough  to  re-constitute  that  powder  into  the  solid  stone. 

Beware  of  this  unpardonable  sin  :  not  one  of  us  has  yet  com- 
mitted it :  it  lies  within  the  power  of  the  meanest  of  us  now  to  do  it. 
Take  care  how  you  lie  unto  the  Holy  Ghost  or  deny  his  ministry 
or  insult  his  beneficent  majesty  ;  take  care  how  you  cut  yourself 
off  from  the  currents  of  life.  If  a  tree  could  seize  itself  and 
drag  every  fibre  of  its  root  out  of  the  earth,  what  would  be- 
come of  the  tree  }  All  nature  would  fight  against  it  and  kill  it,  its 
juices  would  be  sucked  out,  its  veins  would  be  dried  up  with  an  ever- 
lasting desiccation,  and  never  more  would  the  birds  of  the  air  tenant 
themselves  in  its  leafy  boughs  ;  it  has  cut  itself  out  of  the  grooves 
along  which  nature  sends  her  life-currents. 

Take  care  how  you  uproot  yourself  and  seek  isolation  ;  take  care 
how  you  say  you  will  not  have  the  light,  and  you  will  not  have  the 
dew,  and  you  will  not  be  dependent  upon  the  earth.  If  a  man 
could  so  cut  himself  out  of  the  ministry  of  nature,  what  would  be- 
come of  him  .'  Rottenness  and  putridity  would  be  his  lot,  and 
because  of  his  very  noisomeness  men  would  hide  them  away. 
It  is  even  so  spiritually.  A  man  can  put  the  knife  through  every 
filament  that  binds  him  to  the  universe,  he  can  cut  down  his  venera- 
tion, his  imagination,  his  impulses  towards  the  morning,  and  all  its 
blue  and  tender  light,  he  can  snatch  himself  away  from  the  altai 
and  never  pray  another  prayer,  he  can  thrust  his  face  into  his  chest 
and  look  downward  to  the  dust  to  find  what  he  can  in  the  mean 


THE  UNPARDONABLE  SIN. 


stones  beneath  his  feet,  he  can  separate  himself  from  all  social 
charities  and  all  happy  fellowships,  he  can  rebuke  the  child  that 
would  kiss  him  and  run  away  from  all  the  influences  that  would 
redeem  him,  and  having  done  so,  what  has  become  of  him  ?  He 
is  twice  dead,  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  he  is  a  cloud  without 
water,  he  has  offended  the  spirit  of  the  universe,  he  has  sought  to 
live  alone,  and  that  is  the  impossibility  of  human  life. 

Hear  the  gospel  then  this  day,  men  of  business,  men  of  toil, 
women,  children,  whole  families,  masters,  servants — here  is  a  man 
who  heals  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  to-day  is  the  Sabbath  :  here 
are  those  who  object  to  him  and  still  he  proceeds  with  his  gracious 
work  :  here  are  those  who  carry  their  objection  to  black  blas- 
phemy, and  they  are  told  that  one  step  further  and  they  go  into  a 
new  gravitation  and  never  can  arise  again. 


LI. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  good  to  us  with  exceeding  fulness  of  mercy. 
Thy  compassions  fail  not,  they  come  up  with  the  light  every  morning, 
and  they  fill  the  darkness  of  the  night  with  lights  brighter  than  the  stars. 
Thou  art  our  helper  :  when  we  are  helpless  thou  art  nearer  to  us  than  our 
own  life  ;  thou  art  round  about  us  like  a  great  defence  of  fire,  and  no  man 
can  pluck  us  out  of  the  Father's  hand.  Thy  promises  are  exceeding  great 
and  precious,  and  as  for  their  number,  they  have  none — the  sands  upon 
the  seashore  may  be  counted,  but  thy  mercies  are  beyond  all  reckoning, 
they  fill  our  life,  they  overflow  it,  they  are  our  daily  inspiration  and  con- 
fidence, and  our  one  hope  and  final  security.  Thou  dost  enrich  us — all 
the  promises  of  thy  grace  are  ours,  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  are 
our  possession,  all  things  are  ours.  Lord,  increase  our  faith,  give  us  that 
bold  yet  loving  hand,  which  seizes  the  prize  in  all  its  fulness  and  precious- 
ness  and  applies  it  to  the  poverty  and  the  whole  necessity  of  life.  We  have 
not, because  we  ask  not.or  because  we  ask  amiss.give  us  the  asking  spirit  and 
the  right  spirit  of  asking,  and  turn  our  whole  life,  not  into  a  cry  of  distress, 
but  into  a  prayer  of  hope — then  wilt  thou  open  the  windows  of  heaven, 
and  our  life  shall  know  its  littleness  by  reason  of  the  infinity  of  thy  reply. 

We  come  to  thee  through  Jesus  Christ,  the  one  way,  the  way  that  is 
living  and  abundant  and  as  continual  as  our  necessity.  We  come  by  the 
way  of  the  Cross,  we  tarry  at  the  Cross,  our  eyes  are  upon  the  Cross,  our 
expectation  is  from  the  Cross  ;  as  for  him  who  hangs  upon  it,  he  saved 
others,  himself  he  cannot  save.  He  is  our  Saviour  not  his  own,  he  died 
for  sin  once,  and  he  reigneth  unto  righteousness  through  all  the  ages  of 
thine  own  duration.  May  we  hide  our  little  life  in  his  eternity,  may  we 
bring  our  daily  sin  to  his  age-long  intercession,  to  the  blood  shed  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  in  the  presence  of  that  great  mystery 
our  sins  shall  vanish  like  a  driven  cloud. 

Thou  hast  set  before  us  a  great  destiny,  thou  dost  ply  our  life  with 
many  calls,  thou  dost  urge  us  by  many  impulses,  thou  dost  turn  our  am^ 
bition  into  a  religious  force  and  lure  us  by  many  a  promise  of  larger  life 
and  nobler  attainment.  Help  us  to  obey  the  call,  may  we  never  be  diso- 
bedient to  the  heavenly  vision.  Speak  to  us  out  of  thy  temple  of  light, 
and  answer  our  questioning  when  we  desire  to  know  what  thou  wouldst 
have  us  to  do.  May  we  fill  up  the  little  day  of  our  life  with  filial  industry, 
with  gentle,  unmurmuring  patience,  toiling  at  any   service  thou  dost  im- 


222  PR  A  YER. 

pose  upon  us,  and  bearing  ourselves  throughout  our  whole  task  as  those 
whose  strength  is  in  heaven  and  whose  inspiration  is  of  God. 

Thou  knowest  our  whole  necessity,  our  life  in  all  its  throbbing  pain 
and  pitiful  helplessness  and  wordless  desire  and  mute  agony,  in  all  its 
hope,  expectation  and  vehement  desire,  in  all  its  solicitudes  and  v/ander- 
ings  and  curious  questionings — thou  knowest  us  altogether,  thou  knowest 
the  burdens  we  carry,  the  stings  that  wound  us  every  day,  and  the  fire 
which  scorches  us  like  the  judgment  that  is  infinite.  Thou  knowest  our 
rest  and  our  hope,  and  the  place  we  count  most  secure.  According  to  all 
our  life  do  thou  now  come  to  us  and  do  thou  cleanse  us  by  the  inspiration 
of  thy  Spirit,  and  make  us  holy  by  the  application  of  the  blood  of  the 
heart  of  Christ,  and  passing  through  all  the  mystery  of  thine  inward  dis- 
cipline, may  we  come  out  of  the  same  godly,  strong,  pure,  tender,  large 
of  heart,  noble  of  purpose,  marked  by  entirety  and  joyousness  of  conse- 
cration, and  may  our  life  be  an  ascending  sacrifice  unto  the  heavens. 

Pity  us  in  our  littleness,  help  us  to  bear  the  rebuffs  and  scorn  of  men, 
enable  us  to  forgive  our  enemies  with  large  pardons,  yea,  with  multiplied 
releases  of  love.  Enable  us  to  bear  patiently  with  all  who  provoke  us  or 
try  our  temper  or  seek  to  drag  us  down  in  our  noblest  endeavours.  When 
there  is  sickness  in  the  house,  may  the  healer  from  heaven  be  there,  where 
death  comes,  steadily,  stealthily,  nearer,  nearer,  may  the  Resurrection 
and  the  Life  be  nearer  still,  to  foil  the  enemy  in  his  purpose. 

Give  unto  children  the  spirit  of  obedience,  and  unto  parents  the  spirit 
of  wisdom  and  of  love.  May  the  master  and  the  servant  live  together  in 
Christian  amicableness,  and  may  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men  feel 
themselves  united,  not  in  the  region  of  transient  distinctions,  but  in  the 
roots  and  vitalities  of  things,  and  all  those  relations  which  survive  the 
wreck  of  time  and  pass  on  to  the  higher  fellowships  of  the  world  unseen. 

Give  us  all  to  feel  this  day  what  is  meant  by  the  lifting  up  of  the  spirit 
by  the  shining  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  upon  the  inward  heart  and 
life,  may  there  be  great  joy  in  the  sanctuary,  may  the  temple  be  filled 
with  the  shouting  and  singing  of  those  whose  hearts  experience  great  re- 
lease from  the  burden  and  torment  of  sin  and  as  a  man  who  hath  come  upon 
great  prey,  upon  the  prizes  of  heaven.  Thus  for  one  day  in  the  weary  week 
may  our  feet  stand  in  a  large  place,  and  our  hearts  be  lifted  up  in  a 
freeman's  song.     Amen. 

Matthew  xii.  88-50. 

38.  Then  certain  of  the  Scribes  and  of  the  Pharisees  answered,  saying, 
Master,  we  would  see  a  sign  from  thee. 

39.  But  he  answered  and  said  unto  them.  An  evil  and  adulterous  gen- 
eration seeketh  after  a  sign  ;  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  to  it,  but 
the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas  : 

40.  For  as  Jonas  was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's  belly  ; 
so  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the 
earth. 


MATTHEW  XII .  38-50.  223 


41.  The  men  of  Nineveh  shall  rise  in  judgment  with  this  generation, 
and  shall  condemn  it :  because  they  repented  at  the  preaching  of  Jonas  ; 
and.  behold,  a  greater  than  Jonas  is  here. 

"  42.  The  queen  of  the  south  shall  rise  up  in  the  judgment  with  this  gen- 
eration, and  shall  condemn  it :  for  she  came  from  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  ;  and  behold  a  greater  than 
Solomon  is  here. 

43.  When  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walketh  through 
dry  places,  seeking  rest,  and  findeth  none. 

44.  Then  he  saith,  I  will  return  into  my  house  from  whence  I  came  out ; 
and  when  he  is  come,  he  findeth  it  empty,  swept  and  garnished. 

45.  Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  with  himself  seven  other  spirits  more 
wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in  and  dwell  there  :  and  the  last  state 
of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first.  Even  so  shall  it  be  also  unto  this 
wicked  generation. 

46.  While  he  yet  talked  to  the  people,  behold,  his  mother  and  his  breth- 
ren stood  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  him. 

47.  Then  one  said  unto  him,  Behold  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  stand 
without,  desiring  to  speak  with  thee. 

48.  But  he  answered  and  said  unto  him  that  told  him.  Who  is  my 
mother?  and  who  are  my  brethren? 

49.  And  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  toward  his  disciples,  and  said,  Be- 
hold my  mother  and  my  brethren  ! 

50.  For  whosover  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother. 

CHRIST'S  DENIALS. 

IT  was  always  difficult  for  Christ  to  say  No.  Surely  he  was  not 
born  to  say  that  cold  word  to  any  human  heart  that  asked  a 
question  of  him.  The  negative  did  not  come  easily  to  those 
beneficent  lips — they  were  shaped  rather  to  say  with  all  tuneful- 
ness and  sympathy  of  love,  ' '  Yes, ' '  to  every  human  desire,  to 
every  yearning,  loving  spirit.  Yet  in  this  case  Jesus  Christ  says 
' '  No, ' '  and  no  man  can  say  No  with  so  severe  a  firmness.  In  his 
lips,  under  such  circumstances  as  are  detailed  in  the  text,  his  No 
was  final.  He  had  an  intermediate  no,  which  he  never  meant 
to  stand  as  such — the  No  which  he  said  to  the  Syro-Phoenician 
woman — it  was  an  experimental  No,  there  was  no  hollowness  of 
final,  negative  purpose  in  it,  it  was  one  of  the  trials  or  temptations 
addressed  to  the  human  heart  by  him  who  intends  to  fill  that 
heart  with  larger  blessing  in  consequence  of  its  temporary  denial. 
When  did  Jesus  Christ  say  ' '  No ' '  to  the  sick,  to  the  wear)',  to  the 


224  INTELLECT  NOT  INCLUDED. 

broken-hearted,  the  bruised,  the  helpless,  the  wounded  spirit  ? 
When  did  he  say  it  to  any  little  child  that  asked  the  favour  of  his 
smile  ?  Yet  in  this  case,  standing  up  in  front  of  an  evil  and 
adulterous  generation,  he  said  "  No."  'Twas unlike  him  and  yet 
very  like  him  :  he  would  rather  have  said  ' '  Yes  ' '  to  human  prayer, 
but  it  is  sometimes  quite  as  merciful  to  say  ' '  No  "  as  to  say  ' '  Yes. ' ' 

What  was  it  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  wanted  from  Jesus 
Christ?  They  sought  a  merely  intellectual  gratification,  they 
wanted  a  sign,  something  to  estimate,  something  to  speculate 
upon,  another  link  in  a  chain  of  argumentative  evidence.  Jesus 
Christ  never  came  to  satisfy  the  mere  intellect  of  man.  Therein 
have  all  the  doctors  and  sages  and  leaders  of  the  Church  made 
many  a  mischievous  mistake.  They  have  written  evidences,  and 
built  up  proofs,  and  conducted  a  high  intellectual  argument.  The 
gospel  has  nothing  to  say  to  the  intellect  merely  as  such  ;  to  the 
intellect,  stiff  and  blind  in  its  godless  conceit,  the  gospel  has 
nothing  to  utter  but  a  plain  disappointing  ' '  No. ' '  The  wisdom  of 
this  world  is  not  the  wisdom  of  God.  What  are  called  proofs,  in 
the  lower  schools  of  men,  are  not  to  be  taken  as  proofs  in  the 
higher  reasoning  and  in  the  diviner  culture.  With  the  heart  man 
believeth  unto  righteousness.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for 
they  shall  see  God.  To  this  man  will  I  look,  to  him  that  is  of  a 
broken  and  contrite  heart,  who  trembleth  at  my  word.  The 
secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him.  In  the  sixty-first 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  in  which  the  mission  of  Christ  is  stated  in  many 
particulars,  I  find  no  reference  to  the  intellect.  ' '  The  spirit  of 
the  Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  sent  me" — what  to 
do  ?  to  give  signs  and  wonders,  to  satisfy  mere  intelligence  and 
carnal  curiosity  and  intellectual  ambition  ?  No  such  line  can  be 
found  in  this  loving  and  beneficent  specification  of  duty  and 
vocation.  The  meek,  the  captive,  the  bound,  the  tired,  the  help- 
less, the  mourning,  the  tearful,  the  sad — all  these  are  gathered 
within  the  enclosure  of  Christ's  purpose,  but  the  merely  intellectual 
and  literalistic  and  argumentative,  where  are  they  ?  Outside,  of  no 
consequence  in  this  great  strife — they  will  be  brought  in  by  other 
processes,  yea,  they  shall  be  found  on  bent  knee,  worshipping  him 
who  is  the  King.  Meanwhile  Jesus  Christ  keeps  his  great  answers 
and  his  great  promises  and  benedictions  for  the  meek,  the  broken- 


MATTHEW  XII.  38-50.  225 

hearted,  the  sincere,  the  child-like,  the  docile,  and  those  who  have 
no  self-confidence. 

What  does  Jesus  Christ  teach  in  this  broad  answer.?  Jesus 
Christ  teaches  that  there  is  already  enough  in  human  history  to 
satisfy  every  healthy  and  earnest  mind  if  right  use  be  made  of  it. 
The  great  questions  of  the  heart  were  answered  at  the  beginning ; 
the  gospel  is  in  Genesis  ;  God  planted  every  tree  from  the  very 
first,  and  the  after  ages  have  but  developed  the  roots  set  in  the 
human  heart  by  the  divine  hand,  or  planted  in  heaven  by  him 
who  plants  only  the  trees  of  righteousness.  All  great  answers 
have  been  given.  Jonah  and  the  queen  of  the  south  have  their 
counterparts  in  all  histories  and  in  all  cultivated  and  developed 
human  lives.  If  you  have  not  lived  the  story  of  Jonah  the  dic- 
tionary can  never  explain  it  to  you.  The  whale  and  its  mouth, 
and  a  thousand  mysteries  that  gather  around  it — you  will  never  be 
able  to  understand  it ;  but  if  you  have  been  Jonah,  and  have  been 
in  the  whale  and  in  the  deep,  and  have  been  cast  out,  and  have 
passed  through  all  the  tragedy,  you  will  know  the  meaning  of  the 
spirit,  without  being  able  to  give  any  satisfaction  to  those  who 
live  in  the  universe  of  a  zoological  garden,  and  who  never  pene- 
trate the  inward  poetry  and  apocalyptic  meaning  of  the  things 
that  are  happening  around  them  every  day.  The  earth  is  full  of 
signs,  the  heavens  shine  with  tokens,  all  life  is  a  witness  and  con- 
firmation. We  need  no  more  proof  ;  what  we  do  need  is  to  make 
better  use  of  the  proof  we  already  have. 

Let  me,  therefore,  speak  with  all  moral  incisiveness  and  posi- 
tiveness  of  meaning,  to  those  who  are  yet  among  the  Scribes  and 
the  Pharisees,  saying,  with  vulgar  or  ill-concealed  conceit  of  in- 
tellect, "  Master,  we  would  see  a  sign  from  heaven. "  There  shall 
no  more  signs  be  given  ;  what  we  now  have  to  do  is  not  to  add  to 
the  evidences  but  to  utilize  them.  You  do  not  want  a  new  Bible, 
you  want  to  read  the  Bible  you  already  have  in  your  hands. 
There  is  not  a  man  in  a  thousand  who  knoM's  anything  about  the 
Bible  vitally  and  really,  in  all  its  grasp  and  meaning.  There  is 
no  book  of  such  momentous  purpose  and  significance  so  little  read 
and  so  little  understood.  We  are  outside,  and  we  see  only  the 
edges  and  surfaces  of  things  written  in  the  inner  book.  We  do 
not  want  more  evidences,  evidences  have  often  misled  the  thinker 
or  have  only  been  food  to  the  pride  of  his  intellect,  or  have  only 


226  THE   UNCLEAN  SPIRIT  OF  CURIOSITY. 

established  him  in  the  confidence  of  his  own  conceit,  for  wherein 
he  has  mastered  them,  he  has  said,  if  not  in  words  yet  in  effect, 
"See  how  able  I  am,  and  how  clever  and  how  masterly  is  my 
grasp  of  things. ' '  That  man  has  not  come  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  at  all.  I  will  not  say  he  has  not  come  in  by  the  right  gate, 
he  has  come  in  by  no  gate,  he  is  as  one  who  walks  round  about 
it  and  takes  observations  and  makes  measurements,  but  has  never 
been  caught  in  the  whirlwind  of  its  music,  in  the  fire  and  sacrifice 
of  its  ineffable  passion.  You  do  not  want  more  evidence,  you 
need  the  understanding  heart,  the  clean  heart,  the  right  spirit,  the 
child-like  disposition,  all  prayers  in  one,  "Lord,  teach  me  what 
thou  wouldst  have  me  do." 

What  think  ye .?  Here  is  a  man  who  is  filling  his  grate  with  all 
kinds  of  fuel,  and  a  beautiful  grate  it  is,  not  wanting  in  capacity. 
And  still  he  re-arranges  the  material,  again  he  redistributes  the 
fuel,  he  takes  it  all  out  and  puts  other  fuel  in,  and  calls  the  atten- 
tion of  men  to  the  size  of  his  grate  and  to  the  purpose  of  his  life, 
and  he  challenges  men  to  find  any  better  fuel  than  he  has  yet 
secured.  What  should  he  be  doing .?  Not  playing  himself  .at  grate- 
filling,  but  setting  fire  to  the  material  already  in  his  possession, 
and  thus  kindling  a  friendly  influence  in  the  house,  the  fire,  that 
household  apocalypse,  that  household  revelation,  that  chamber 
of  the  picture-gallery,  the  fire — wherein  battles  are  fought  and 
victories  won,  and  temples  built  and  sacrifices  offered,  and  great 
motions  continually  are  proceeding  which  are  to  be  caught  by  the 
imagination  and  transformed  into  all  kinds  of  utility  in  the  life. 
O,  fool,  light  the  fuel  you  have  ;  other  fuel  will  be  wanted  and 
will  be  ready  to  come,  not  for  ornament  but  for  use. 

Jesus  Christ  gave  a  broad  answer,  we  have  just  said,  to  this 
inquiry  for  a  sign.  ' '  When  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out  of  a 
man,  he  walketh  through  dry  places,  seeking  rest  and  finding 
none  :  then  he  saith,  I  will  return. ' '  That  unclean  spirit  is  curi- 
osity, idle,  vain,  self-seeking  curiosity,  and  when  once  it  has  been 
satisfied  by  the  great  replies  of  history,  and  still  wants  a  further 
satisfaction,  and  goes  out  to  find  it,  it  will  return  and  become 
sevenfold  greater  than  it  once  was.  Beware  how  you  keep  your 
curiosity  chained.  Strengthen  the  chain  every  day.  Once  get 
into  the  spirit  of  sign-seeking  and  question-asking,  and  vital  piety 
becomes  an  impossibility  in  your  case.      Never  let  question-asking 


MATTHEW  XI L  38-50.  227 

get  the  upper  hand  of  you.  In  this  solemn  department  of  Hfe 
keep  curiosity  in  its  right  place,  which  is  outside,  mile  on  mile 
away  from  the  letter.  Consider  how  easy  it  is  to  ask  for  signs, 
how  poor  and  feeble  an  intellectual  condition  it  is  merely  to  be 
able  to  ask  questions,  to  propound  difficulties,  to  suggest  troubles, 
and  to  bewilder  and  puzzle  those  who  are  endeavouring  to  do 
great  good  in  the  world.  Do  not  mistake  question-asking  or  sign- 
seeking  for  intellectual  greatness. 

The  doctrine  is  not  only  trae  intellectually,  it  is  true  morally. 
If  once  you  get  over  a  bad  habit  you  must  do  something  more, 
or  that  bad  habit  will  come  back  to  you,  and  finding  the  house, 
empty,  swept,  and  garnished,  will  bring  with  it  seven  other  habits 
worse  than  itself,  and  the  last  state  of  your  heart  shall  be  sadder 
than  the  first.  What  is  that  other  thing  a  man  has  to  do  after  he 
has  got  rid  of  a  bad  habit .?  He  has  to  cultivate  a  good  one.  It 
is  not  enough  to  cease  to  curse,  you  must  learn  to  pray  ;  it  is  not 
enough  to  throw  away  from  you  the  evil-spirited  book  and  to  say, 
"  I  will  never  read  another  line  of  you  ;  "  you  must  replace  it  by 
a  wise  and  good  book,  otherwise  the  old  appetency  will  wake, 
and  will  urge  you  to  its  cruel  satisfaction. 

■  Herein  it  is  very  important  that  all  merely  negative  reformers 
should  be  followed  up  in  their  noble  and  beneficent  course  by 
those  who  have  something  distinctive  and  positive  to  offer  to  such 
as  have  been  reclaimed  from  open  and  scandalous  vices.  You 
have  been  converted  from  the  sin  of  drunkenness ;  it  is  not 
enough  that  you  be  a  mere  abstainer  from  intoxicating  drinks, 
you  must  be  surrounded  by  the  noblest  influences,  you  must  be 
intellectually  enlightened  and  trained,  you  must  betake  yourself 
to  some  grand  moral  purpose,  you  must  become  deeply  interested 
in  some  philanthropic  and  beneficent  scheme,  and  thus  must 
complete  in  positiveness  what  has  been  so  happily  begun  in  the 
region  that  is  merely  destructive  or  negative. 

The  unclean  spirit  will  come  back.  No  man  can  remain  in 
the  same  state  from  time  to  time — getting  no  better,  getting  no 
worse — it  is  not  in  human  nature  to  be  thus  stationary.  "The 
last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first,"  said  Christ  concern- 
ing those  who  had  not  filled  up  the  house  of  the  heart  with  good 
and  heavenly  spirits.     We  become  worse  and  worse  every  day  if 


228  THE   QUIET  EXCITEMENT  OF  CHRIST. 


we  are  not  pursuing  the  right  course  ;  we  do  not  stand  still.  Nor 
is  the  decadence  and  corruption  of  our  nature  a  rapid  and  visible 
one  ;  the  process  is  silent,  subtle,  often  invisible,  and  not  seldom 
unfelt  in  its  detailed  action.  The  sapping  goes  on  quietly,  the 
strength  is  sucked  out  of  a  man  little  by  little,  so  that  he  shakes 
himself  and  says,  ' '  I  am  as  strong  as  ever  ;  ' '  but  there  comes  a 
time  when  in  shaking  himself  he  reveals  himself  to  himself,  and 
feels  that  he  is  no  longer  the  young,  blithe,  strong,  clear-headed 
man  which  he  was  in  his  earlier  life.  Sometimes  the  collapse  is 
sudden  ;  there  is  nothing  in  the  outward  circumstances  to  betoken 
what  has  been  proceeding  within  ;  but  at  one  critical  touch  the 
whole  outline  gives  in  and  the  collapse  is  complete.  I  may  have 
illustrated  this  to  you  before  by  the  action  of  the  white  ant.  The 
white  ant  will  enter  into  a  door  and  will  eat  it  up  ;  every  fibre  of 
the  wood  will  be  consumed  by  the  little  creature,  and  the  paint  will 
be  left  untouched.  You  would  say,  "  The  door  is  there,  open  it." 
If  you  touch  it  it  falls  ;  the  whole  of  the  woodwork  has  been 
consumed  by  the  little  mischief-maker.  It  is  also  the  same  in 
our  life.  We  appear  to  be  the  same  ;  to  all  outward  seeming  we 
are  just  as  we  were  twenty  years  ago  ;  but  if  we  have  not  been 
growing  in  the  right  direction,  there  will  come  upon  us  a  touch, 
and  we  shall  sink  and  perish,  and  the  tremendous  reality  will  be 
revealed. 

' '  While  he  yet  talked  to  the  people. ' '  We  must  not  forget  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  next  event  occurred.  Jesus  Christ 
was  in  the  excitement  of  speech  ;  when  he  spoke,  everything  in 
him  spoke  ;  the  whole  life  was  an  utterance  ;  in  no  cold  blood 
did  this  mighty  publisher  of  eternal  truths  declare  his  testimony  ; 
his  quietness  was  power  suppressed,  his  whisper  was  a  thunder- 
burst  in  the  azure,  when  he  spoke  he  trembled,  thrilled,  vibrated 
through  and  through  to  some  influence  within  and  above. 
"While  he  talked  to  the  people,  behold  his  mother  and  his 
brethren  stood  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  him.  Then  one 
said,  Behold,  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  stand  without,  desiring 
to  speak  with  thee."  His  mind  was  moving  forward  with  the 
sweep  and  wholeness  of  a  great  river  ;  a  man  in  the  crowd  sought 
to  turn  the  urgent  river  from  its  channel ;  Jesus  answered  out  of 
the  inspiration  of  his  human  enthusiasm,   "Who  is  my  mother, 


MATTHEW  XII.  38-50.  229 

and  who  are  my  brethren  ?"  You  cannot  understand  these  words 
in  cold  blood  ;  there  are  fingers  so  icy  that  they  ought  never  to 
touch  this  Book  ;  there  are  eyes  so  cold  they  ought  never  to  look 
into  these  immortal  pages.  You  cannot  understand  the  prophets 
and  the  apostles  in  cold  critical  mood  ;  you  can  vivisect  their 
words,  etymologise  them,  searching  into  remote  meanings  and 
earlier  definitions,  and  when  you  have  done  all  that — as  I  shall 
endeavour  to  do  in  a  few  instances  this  evening  in  this  church — 
there  remains  a  broader  interpretation  which  can  only  be  exercised 
by  those  who  are  aflame  with  the  very  fire  of  God. 

We  all  know  what  it  is  to  speak  out  of  a  holy  and  sublime 
excitement.  There  are  sacred  hours,  when  we  see  the  broadest 
and  grandest  bearings  of  the  lines  of  life,  and  in  which  we  seize 
the  innermost  meaning  of  common  or  tender  terms.  Our  little 
self  is  lifted  up  into  a  heroic  personality,  in  which  no  local  relation 
is  destroyed,  but  rather  ennobled  and  sublimed.  You  must  there- 
fore look  at  Jesus  Christ's  words  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  they 
were  uttered  while  he  yet  talked  to  the  people,  his  soul  aglow, 
his  eye  alight,  his  blood  fevered  with  the  fire  of  God, 'and  his 
whole  individuality  lifted  up  into  a  broader  self-hood  than  was 
measurable  by  the  merely  human  eye  even  in  its  keenest  observa- 
tion. 

Look  at  this  wonderful  speech  of  Jesus ;  it  recalls  his  earliest 
recorded  words.  Said  his  mother  :  ' '  Thy  father  and  I  have 
sought  thee,  sorrowing."  Said  he  :  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be 
about  my  Father's  business.?"  Already,  at  twelve  years  of  age, 
he  was  another  than  the  son  of  Mary  and  the  reputed  son  of  the 
carpenter.  Already  he  had  seized  the  key-word  of  the  universe 
and  realised  that  relation  which  makes  all  other  relations  fall  into 
their  right  perspective  and  assume  their  proper  proportion  and 
colour.  We  are  too  local,  we  are  too  small,  we  build  ourselves  up 
into  families  and  we  enclose  ourselves  within  square  huts,  and  we 
have  terminal  points — we  begin  here  and  we  end  there,  and  so 
far  we  know  nothing  about  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  great 
humanity,  the  world-feeling — we  do  not  realise  our  ancestry  and 
our  posterity  and  our  whole  bearing  in  the  universe  :  we  detach 
ourselves  :  we  belong  to  this  sect,  or  to  yonder  clan,  or  to  the 
other  fraternity  ;    we  are    English,   or  American,    or   Italian,   or 


230  CHRIST'S  COMPREHENSIVENESS. 

Colonial ;  we  have  these  little  narrowing  dwarfing  terms  always 
clinging  to  us  and  impoverishing  our  speech.  Use  them  as  mere 
conveniences  and  they  may  be  of  some  utility,  but  there  ought  to 
be  times  in  the  consciousness  of  every  Christian  heart  m  which 
every  land  is  home  and  every  man  a  brother. 

This  answer  explains  Christ's  true  relation  to  the  human  family. 
"Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
the  same  is  my  brother  and  sister  and  mother. "  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  local  pedigree,  it  is  not  a  claim  that  can  be  set  up  on 
partial  lines.  This  whosoever  is  as  broad  as  any  whosoever  uttered 
in  all  the  great  and  inclusive  language  of  the  Bible.  ' '  Whosoever 
shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  He  keeps 
to  the  key-word,  he  involves  the  centre,  he  stands  on  vital  terms. 
Not — whosoever  shall  be  born  in  my  day  and  age,  whosoever  shall 
be  bom  in  my  country,  whosoever  shall  speak  my  language  with 
my  accent ;  not — whosoever  shall  be  great  or  noble,  or  rich,  or 
mighty — whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.  Then  that  gives  me  my  chance.  I  may  be  a  relation  of 
Jesus  Christ — poor,  obscure,  unknown,  helpless  ;  even  I  may  enter 
the  household  of  faith  and  be  permitted  to  touch  at  least  the  hem 
of  his  garment.  I  may  be  one  of  his  family  ;  I  may  be  a  kinsman 
of  the  Son  of  God  ;  I  need  no  longer  be  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner, 
but  may  enter  into  the  household  and  commonwealth  of  heaven. 

I  have  thus  .to  offer  you  a  grand  ancestry  ;  to  offer  all  men  new 
vitalities,  new  surroundings,  new  kinsfolk.  This  shows  the  uniting 
power  of  Christianity.  The  Christian  religion  never  divides  men, 
never  splits  up  a  human  family  and  belittles  our  human  relations. 
The  Christian  religion  would  have  us  all  brought  mto  a  common 
sympathy,  united  by  a  common  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  same 
Saviour,  and  would  give  each  of  us  the  same  badge,  the  old,  grim, 
black,  accursed  cross,  which  may  be  turned  into  the  very  symbol 
of  the  heart  of  God  himself,  the  greatest  Sufferer,  the  one  Sufferer, 
the  only  Heart  that  knows  the  meaning  of  infinite  woe. 

Here,  then,  is  our  standing  ;  this  very  day  we  are  members  one 
of  another.  Whether  one  member  suffers,  all  the  members  suffer 
with  it ;  whether  one  member  rejoices,  all  the  members  should 
rejoice  with  it,  and  have  common  dance  and  song  and  high  delight 
in  the  holy  place.     Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the 


MATTHEW  XII .  38-50.  231 

law  of  Christ.  Be  no  longer  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  of  the 
household  of  God.  We  are  not  isolated  individuals ;  we  grasp 
hands  with  the  ages,  the  glorious  company  of  the  apostles,  the 
holy  band  of  the  prophets  before  them,  the  noble  army  of  martyrs 
uniting  them  both,  the  holy  Church  throughout  all  the  world — this  is 
the  household  of  God.  Beauteous  picture  !  Tender  relationship  1 
it  cannot  be  realised  in  all  its  ideal  perfection  here  and  now,  but 
we  ought  always  to  cling  to  the  inner  and  vital  truth  which  it 
typifies,  that  the  Church  is  one — indivisible  as  the  heart  that 
bought  it  with  blood. 


LII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  life  is  in  thy  right  hand,  and  thou  dost  care  for 
us  with  daily  care.  By  the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us  we  have  been 
enabled  to  continue  unto  this  time,  and  on  this  holy  morning  the  sacred 
song  is  upon  our  lips,  and  our  hearts  are  lifted  up  in  hallowed  desire,  and 
in  our  soul  is  there  a  goodly  expectation.  We  have  brought  our  morning 
psalm  to  sing  it  together  in  the  courts  of  thine  house,  that  in  many  voices 
thou  mayst  hear  what  each  voice  would  say,  that  in  the  multitude  of  our 
expression  thou  mayst  hear  what  the  individual  heart  doth  feel.  We 
pray  thee  to  take  our  common  song  as  our  personal  tribute  and  to  regard 
our  common  prayer  as  the  desire  of  every  heart. 

Thou  hast  done  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are  glad  ;  all  the  things 
thou  doest  are  great,  there  is  nothing  small  with  God,  nor  trivial,  nor  of 
little  account  :  the  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered,  our  steps  are 
watched,  thou  dost  listen  to  the  beating  of  the  heart,  our  tears  thou  dost 
put  into  thy  bottle,  and  our  names  are  graven  on  the  palms  of  thine 
hands.  We  will  make  mention  of  the  lovingkindness  of  the  Lord,  and 
mightily  praise  him  with  glowing  song,  because  of  his  patience  and 
thoughtfulness,  and  his  eternal  regard  for  all  that  ministers  to  our  soul's 
health,  and  to  all  that  prepares  for  the  soul  a  glorious  destiny. 

Every  man  before  thee  would  praise  the  Lord  :  there  are  no  silent 
hearts  in  the  sanctuary.  In  every  eye  is  the  light  of  a  holy  expectancy, 
in  every  spirit  is  the  moving  of  a  fervent  desire.  O  thou  who  dost  create 
in  the  heart  of  man  those  emotions  and  desires  and  upward  movements 
of  the  soul,  grant  unto  us  great  answers  that  shall  fill  our  life  with  glad- 
ness and  clothe  our  whole  course  with  the  light  of  heaven. 

We  are  emboldened  to  say  all  this,  and  to  tell  thee  the  whole  story  of 
our  heart,  because  of  what  we  have  been  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  thy  Son. 
He  is  our  way  and  only  way  to  the  Father,  he  dwelt  in  thy  bosom 
through  all  eternity,  he  came  forth  to  reveal  thee  to  the  sons  of  men,  he 
gave  himself,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  unto  God — he 
was  delivered  for  our  offences  and  raised  again  for  our  justification,  and  he 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  uz.  He  draws  our  hearts  into  great 
supplication  and  broad  and  urgent  desire,  he  inspires  no  little  petitions, 
he  creates  a  great  expectancy,  and  gladdens  it  with  infinite  satisfaction. 
His  blood  is  our  hope,  his  cross  is  our  refuge,  his  grace  is  our  strength. 
Lead  us  into  all  the  path  of  Christ,  give  us  the  fearlessness  of  honesty, 


MATTHEW  XI  11.   1-23.  233 

give  us  the  patience  of  earnestness,  and  enable  us  to  wait  with  all  filial 
diligence  until  the  light  shineth  upon  us  in  full  revelation. 

Help  us  to  read  thy  book  with  the  eyes  of  the  heart,  that  we  may  see 
its  inner  beauty  :  help  us  to  listen  to  thy  gospel  with  the  hearing  of  the 
soul,  that  no  tone  of  its  tender  music  may  be  lost.  Comfort  us  with  all 
helpful  solaces,  that  shall  quiet  us  and  yet  inspire  us  with  strength.  May 
the  time  of  our  sojourning  here  be  passed  in  the  fear  of  love,  in  the  law 
of  light,  and  in  the  delight  of  thy  statutes,  which  are  our  songs  in  the 
house  of  our  pilgrimage. 

Speak  to  every  heart,  breathe  thy  benediction  upon  every  life,  let  a 
great  comfort  give  us  a  glowing  love  in  the  soul  that  shall  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  but  the  presence  of  the  great  God.  Pour  out  thy  Holy 
Spirit  upon  us.  Holy  Spirit,  dwell  with  us,  sacred  guest  of  humble 
hearts,  abide  in  the  sanctuary  of  our  love,  guide  and  lift  up  and  strengthen 
with  all  heavenly  energy  our  whole  life,  and  when  the  days  of  our  travel- 
ling are  done,  and  we  come  to  the  last  river,  give  us  safe  crossing  and  a 
broad  welcome  into  the  city.     Amen. 

Matthe-w  xiii.  1-23. 

1.  The  same  day  went  Jesus  out  of  the  house,  and  sat  by  the  sea  side. 

2.  And  great  multitudes  were  gathered  together  unto  him,  so  that  he 
went  into  a  ship,  and  sat  ;  and  the  whole  multitude  stood  on  the  shore. 

3.  And  he  spake  many  things  unto  them  in  parables,  saying.  Behold, 
a  sower  went  forth  to  sow  ; 

4.  And  when  he  sowed,  some  seeds  fell  by  the  way  side,  and  the 
fowls  came  and  devoured  them  up  : 

5.  Some  fell  upon  stony  places,  where  they  had  not  much  earth  "  and 
forthwith  they  sprung  up,  because  they  had  no  deepness  of  earth  : 

6.  And  when  the  sun  was  up,  they  were  scorched  ;  and  because  they 
had  no  root,  they  withered  away, 

7.  And  some  fell  among  thorns  ;  and  the  thorns  sprung  up,  and  choked 
them  : 

8.  But  other  fell  into  good  ground,  and  brought  forth  fruit,  some  an 
hundredfold,  some  sixtyfold,  some  thirtyfold. 

9.  Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

10.  And  the  disciples  came,  and  said  unto  him,  Why  speakest  thou 
unto  them  in  parables  ? 

11.  He  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given. 

12.  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more 
abundance  :  but  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even 
that  he  hath. 

13.  Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables  :  because  they  seeing  see 
not  ;  and  hearing  they  hear  not,  neither  do  they  understand. 

14.  And  in  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Esaias,  which  saith,  By 


234  PICTORIAL  PREACHING. 


hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and  shall  not  understand  ;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see, 
and  shall  not  perceive. 

15.  For  this  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of 
hearing,  and  their  eyes  they  have  closed  ;  lest  at  any  time  they  should 
see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  should  understand  with 
their  heart,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them. 

16.  But  blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they  see  ;  and  your  ears,  for  they 
hear. 

17.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  many  prophets  and  righteous  men 
have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them  ; 
and  to  hear  those  things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard  them. 

18.  Hear  ye  therefore  the  parable  of  the  sower. 

19.  When  any  one  heareth  the  word  of  the  kingdom,  and  understand- 
eth  it  not,  then  cometh  the  wicked  one,  and  catcheth  away  that  which  was 
sown  in  his  heart.     This  is  he  which  received  seed  by  the  way  side. 

20.  But  he  that  received  the  seed  into  stony  places,  the  same  is  he  that 
heareth  the  word,  and  anon  with  joy  receiveth  it  ; 

21.  Yet  hath  he  not  root  in  himself,  but  dureth  for  a  while  :  for  when 
tribulation  or  persecution  ariseth  because  of  the  word,  by  and  by  he  is 
offended. 

22.  He  also  that  received  seed  among  the  thorns  is  he  that  heareth  the 
word  ;  and  the  care  of  this  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  choke 
the  word,  and  he  becometh  unfruitful. 

23.  But  he  that  received  seed  into  the  good  ground  is  he  that  heareth 
the  word,  and  understandeth  it  ;  which  also  beareth  fruit,  and  bringeth 
forth,  some  an  hundredfold,  some  sixty,  some  thirty. 

THE  PICTURE  GALLERY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

JESUS  CHRIST  shows  us  how  to  deal  with  a  great  multitude 
in  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom.  ' '  The  same  day- 
went  Jesus  out  of  the  house  and  sat  by  the  sea  side,  and  great 
multitudes  were  gathered  together  unto  him,  so  that  he  went  into 
a  ship  and  sat,  and  the  whole  multitude  stood  on  the  shore.  And 
he  spake  many  things  unto  them  in  parables."  Do  not  expect 
great  multitudes  to  follow  connected  discourses.  Crowds  must 
be  caught  hy  poiftls  rather  than  by  arguments.  In  speaking  to  the 
crowd,  I  find  that  the  INIaster  spoke  matty  things — many  things  to 
many  hearers.  That  is  the  great  law  of  successful  speech  to  mul- 
titudes. Yet  the  many  things  were  about  one  thing — the  subject 
never  changed.  The  one  thing  was  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the 
many  things  were  the  many  parables.  There  was  unity  in  variety, 
and  there  was  variety  in  unity.      The  subject  was  the  kingdom  of 


MATTHEW  XIII.   1-23.  235 

heaven,  and  the  illustrations  were  brought  from  every  quarter  of 
life  and  nature. 

We  enter  then  upon  a  new  phase  of  the  divine  preaching. 
Hitherto  it  has  been  doctrinal  and  hortatory,  now  it  is  imaginative 
and  pictorial.  These  marvellous  parables  are  the  picture-gallery 
of  the  Church  :  the  parable  shows  what  is  usually  called  the  ideal 
side  of  the  kingdom.  This  is  the  painter's  art.  The  painter  is 
not  a  copyist  or  a  literalist :  he  docs  not  transfer  a  tree  to  his 
paper  or  his  canvas,  he  puts  meanings  into  his  work  which  grow 
upon  the  mind  and  hold  it  in  new  fascinations  evermore.  The 
amateur  daubs  flat  paint  upon  fiat  canvas,  and  the  canvas  is  but 
the  heavier  for  the  lifeless  load.  The  true  painter  makes  the  paint 
throb,  and  fills  the  canvas  with  the  electricity  which  burns  in  his 
own  hand. 

We  never  get  all  the  meaning  of  the  parables  :  we  never  get  all 
the  meaning  of  any  truth.  The  parables  bear  inspection  for  ever  : 
they  have  revelations  suited  to  the  morning  light  and  to  the  noon- 
tide glory  and  to  the  mystery  of  the  solemn  gloaming.  To  all  the 
ages  of  the  fathers  they  have  been  uttering  their  music,  yet  their 
music  comes  to-day  with  swells  of  power  and  cadences  of  persuasive 
pathos  which  our  fathers  never  heard.  Do  not  suppose  that  you 
have  read  all  the  parables  and  have  gone  through  them.  There 
may  be  men  who  have  littleness  of  mind  sufficient  to  enable  them 
to  get  done  with  the  parables  once  for  all  ;  on  some  of  us  they 
grow,  and  they  are  bigger  and  brighter  and  tenderer  every  day. 
The  parables  sent  from  heaven  are  always  new,  so  is  the  preacher 
sent  from  God — he  is  ahva3's  new,  fresh,  dewy,  original,  vital. 
His  words  may  be  the  same,  but  there  is  a  new  colour  in  them  ; 
his  is  not  a  monotony  of  artistic  iteration — the  actor's  perishable 
art — it  is  the  marvellous  boom  and  emphasis,  or  equally  marvellous 
whisper  and  suppression  of  vitality. 

Never  man  spake  like  this  man.  He  never  uttered  the  same 
word  twice  in  the  same  tone,  therefore  he  was  no  actor.  The 
actor  repeats,  the  preacher  sent  from  God  creates.  His  echo  is 
as  original  as  his  voice  :  the  fragments  fill  more  baskets  than  the 
loaves  filled.  This  is  not  to  be  explained  in  words  :  it  has  no 
other  self  in  the  dictionary  ;  it  is  felt,  and  the  heart,  glowing  with 
wordless  delight,  grips  and  loves  the  tender  meaning.      Herein  the 


236  THE  PARABLES. 


sanctuary  must  always  be  the  first  of  all  places  upon  the  earth  for 
permanence,  for  durability,  for  abidingness,  for  the  unwearable 
substance  of  truth.  Other  men  come  and  go  like  spasms  that 
cannot  be  reckoned,  but  the  preacher,  the  parabolist,  sent  from 
heaven  abides  always.  The  more  he  is  needed,  the  more  he  is. 
This  is  the  secret  of  living  in  God. 

These  words  are  to  be  taken  as  introductory  to  all  that  may  be 
given  me  to  say  upon  these  wondrous  parables.  In  the  parable 
before  us  we  have  a  great  advantage  over  many  others,  for  we 
have  not  only  the  parable  but  the  explanation.  Jesus  gives  both 
the  text  and  the  sermon.  We  have  the  same  thing  put  from  the 
inside  and  from  the  outside.  It  will  be  my  business  to  show  that 
we  have  here  the  key  of  all  the  parables — in  other  words,  this 
comment  upon  one  will  give  a  hint  as  to  the  right  method  of 
commenting  upon  all  others. 

This,  then,  is  a  solemn  moment  in  the  spiritual  education  of 
some  of  us  who  really  care  for  these  matters ;  it  is  the  day  on 
which  the  key  is  handed  out.  If  I  can  master  this  parable  of  the 
sower,  all  the  parables  are  mine.  Let  me  show  you  how  all  the 
parables  firmly  base  themselves  on  great  humati  facts  and  social 
parallels,  and  how  true  they  are  to  all  that  is  known  to  be  true 
among  ourselves.  Let  me  strip  these  parables  of  all  ghostliness 
and  other  worldliness  so  far  as  it  might  affright  the  soul,  and  show 
you  how  these  parables  are  all  great  human  truths,  lifted  up  into 
heavenly  lights  and  bearing  upon  them  interpretations  of  divine 
things.  You  can  never  get  to  the  top  of  any  ladder  the  foot  of 
which  is  not  upon  earth.  Let  me  show  you  that  these  parables 
are  ladders,  well  fixed  upon  the  earth  at  the  one  end,  and  rising 
up  into  all  the  mystery  of  heaven  upon  the  other.  Can  I  succeed 
in  this  ?  If  so,  I  shall  give  you  rich  gifts,  gold  and  gems,  treasures 
more  precious  than  rubies,  and  to-day  will  be  a  birthday  in  the 
soul  of  every  man.  Holy  Spirit,  writer  of  all  the  parables,  in 
light,  in  colour,  in  the  forest,  on  the  sea,  in  the  heavens,  on  the 
green  earth,  come  and  re-write  them  every  one,  as  to  their 
spiritual  meaning  and  force,  upon  every  honest  heart ! 

This  representation  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  true  of  all 
kingdoms  that  are  themselves  true.  The  proof  is  easy — you  need 
not  the  divine,  technically  so  called,  to  explain  and  establish  this 
gracious  doctrine.     The  marvellous  fact  connected  with  the  king- 


MATTHEW  XIII.   1-23.  237 

dom  of  heaven  is  this,  that  it  takes  up  all  other  kingdoms  into 
itself  and  shows  that  in  so  far  as  they  are  true,  they  do  but  illustrate 
on  incomplete  lines  what  itself  would  do  upon  the  whole  lines  of 
universal  thinking  and  acting.  Do  not  get  into  the  notion  of 
imagining  that  religion  is  something  separate  from  life.  Avoid 
the  priestly  superstition,  the  soul-damning  fanaticism  that  religion 
is  something  separate  and  isolated  from  all  the  courses  of  thinking 
and  loving  and  service  familiar  to  us  as  men.  It  is  the  last  expres- 
sion of  all  that  is  best  and  dearest  in  our  own  consciousness, 
experience,  and  aspiration,  like  as  a  father,  like  as  a  shepherd,  like 
as  a  nurse,  like  as  a  mother,  by  such  analogues  does  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  shine  forth  its  tenderest  glowing  and  meaning  upon  the 
eyes  that  want  to  see  the  gracious  revelation. 

This  parable  of  the  sower  and  the  seed  belongs  to  every  king- 
dom that  is  true.  It  belongs  to  the  kingdom  of  knowledge.  No 
man  ever  yet  went  forth  to  teach  mankind  letters,  philosophy, 
science  of  any  sort,  but  came  home  a  living  exemplification  of 
this  veiy  parable.  This  is  not  a  priest's  conundrum,  this  is  not  an 
ecclesiastical  enigma  to  be  answered  only  by  ecclesiastical  genius — 
this  is  the  world's  experience  in  all  its  teachers,  schools,  wise  prop- 
agations, and  healthy  progress.  Therefore  it  is  true  at  the  other 
end  because  it  is  true  at  the  end  with,  which  we  ourselves  are 
minutely  and  practically  familiar. 

Is  there  any  man  here  who  ever  undertook  to  conduct  in  his 
country  a  great  reform  .?  Any  man  who  has  been  interested  in 
the  education  of  the  people,  in  the  conversion  of  the  people  from 
great  vices,  in  the  enlightenment  and  general  progress  of  society 
— call  himself  Atheist,  or  Secularist,  or  Agnostic,  or  Non-Theist, 
or  what  he  please  .-*  I  will  give  him  his  report  in  the  very  words 
of  this  parable,  and  he  will  say,  reading  the  parable  as  a  report, 
' '  This  exactly  represents  my  own  experience  as  a  propagandist  of 
wise  ideas,  and  as  an  educator  of  the  people. ' '  There  is  nothing 
therefore  magical  here  :  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  claims  no  more 
than  any  other  kingdom,  except  in  so  far  as  itself  is  more.  All 
the  boats  go  on  the  same  sea,  but  some  draw  more  water  than 
others.  Herein  no  ghostly  claim  is  set  up,  there  is  no  mystery,  or 
magic,  or  curious  wand-waving  in  this  strong  human  teaching. 
The  fate  of  the  upper  kingdom  is  the  fate  of  every  kingdom  that 


238  PARALLEL   SIMILITUDES, 

is  good.  It  goes  forth  with  risks  and  experiments  and  comes 
back  with  disappointments  and  satisfactions. 

Read  your  Bibles  in  the  Hght  of  this  suggestion,  and  the  old 
Book  will  flame  with  a  new  glory.  The  mischief  for  which  I 
blame  the  priests  of  every  age  is  that  the  Book  has  been  separated 
from  all  the  literature  of  the  world,  and  locked  up  with  a  death's 
head  in  a  closet  of  its  own.  Read  in  the  right  way,  it  expresses 
the  experience  of  the  world  in  the  language  of  Heaven  ;  taken 
from  the  right  point  of  view,  it  combines  all  that  is  most  precious, 
tragical,  contradictory,  noble  in  human  souls  and  human  expe- 
rience. 

This  view  of  human  society  is  true  to  fact  in  every  age  of 
human  history.  This  classification  is  universal  ;  the  men  of  this 
parable  are  the  men  of  to-day  and  the  men  of  every  day.  These 
are  not  waxen  figures  made  eighteen  centuries  ago,  and  which 
have  melted  in  the  process  of  the  suns — these  are  living  figures, 
breathing  men  and  women,  sitting  in  these  pews  to-day,  and  who 
will  sit  in  the  pews  of  every  church  till  the  bell  of  time  announces 
the  day  of  doom.  We  have  in  all  ages  those  who  hear  the  Word 
and  understand  it  not,  those  who  joyfully  receive  the  Word,  and 
having  no  root  in  themselves,  endure  only  for  a  little  while  ;  those 
who  hear  the  Word,  but  are  overmastered  by  the  world  and  by  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches  :  those  who  hear  the  Word  and  understand 
it,  and  grow  in  great  plentifulness  of  precious  fruit.  Is  this  a 
priestly  thing,  an  ecclesiastical  picture,  to  be  seen  only  on  Sundays, 
when  the  church  door  is  open  1  These  are  the  men  that  are 
encountered  by  every  one  who  attempts  to  instruct  his  fellow- 
creatures.  Here,  for  example,  is  the  lecturer  upon  some  depart- 
ment of  scie?ice.  What  have  you  to  say,  sir.''  You  have  fifty 
pupils  or  students  attending  your  lectures  from  time  to  time — 
what  account  do  you  give  of  them .?  These  are  not  religious 
curiosities,  these  are  not  Christian  fossils,  these  are  the  men  that 
are  living  and  breathing  around  us  all  the  day.  Teacher  of  manu- 
factures— how  is  it  with  you  in  your  great  place  .?  What  about 
your  apprentices  and  workmen — do  they  all  take  the  word  with 
equal  ease .?  Do  they  instantaneously  see  your  points  and  receive 
your  instructions .?  Are  not  there  men  in  your  warehouse,  your 
factory,  the  dull  of  mind,  those  who  see  a  thing  for  a  moment, 
and  say  they  see  it,  and   go   out   and  forget  it  in   an    hour  ;  and 


MATTHEW  XIII.   1-23.  239 

those  who  receive  your  instructions  and  are  led  away  the  moment 
they  get  fifty  yards  from  the  premises,  and  are  found  with  the 
time-spender  and  witli  the  drunkard,  and  with  the  gambler,  or 
with  the  lounging  idler ;  and  are  there  not  those  in  your  place 
of  business  who  are  honest  of  heart  and  quick  of  mind,  and 
who  take  up  your  instructions  and  reproduce  them  in  honest 
labour  ? 

This  parable  is  true  about  the  kingdom  of  heaven  because  it 
is  true  about  your  school  of  lecturing  and  about  your  place  of 
business.  The  foot  of  this  ladder  is  upon  the  earth  ;  therefore 
its  head  may  be  in  heaven.  See  how  by  one  outputting  of  his 
hand  Jesus  Christ  grasps  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ;  not 
one  is  missed  ;  they  are  all  here  ;  he  lays  hold  of  the  whole  occa- 
sion ;  there  is  nothing  magical  here,  nothing  ghostly  or  terrifying 
— this  Man  grasps  and  expresses  the  reality  of  things.  Never 
man  spake  like  this  Man  ;  therefore  he  stands  to-day  crowned 
above  all  others,  mightiest  in  power,  tenderest  in  gentleness — a 
Shepherd,  a  King,  a  Father,  a  Brother,  a  Root  out  of  a  dry  ground, 
the  Flower  of  Jesse  and  the  Plant  of  renown.  Read  his  words  in 
the  light  of  these  human  analogies  and  parallels,  and  you  will 
begin  a  course  of  proving  and  testing  which  will  satisfy  the  com- 
monest or  the  most  cultured  mind  of  the  soundness  of  the  foun- 
dations upon  which  the  Christian  kingdom  rests. 

What  is  true  of  the  kingdom  and  what  is  true  of  human  society 
as  represented  in  this  parable  is  true  of  the  results  which  are  here 
indicated.  The  results  can  be  tested  in  every  section  of  the 
human  family.  The  proof  of  this  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Church 
only.  Why,  I  find  it  in  your  families,  as  you  yourselves  do.  The 
family  is  one,  the  teaching  is  one,  the  seed  is  the  same,  the  care 
taken  of  all  the  little  creatures  is  the  same  care — none  is  esteemed 
above  another ;  but  the  same  patience  and  love  and  light,  anxiety, 
solicitude  are  expended  upon  the  whole  six.  Now  let  me  look  at 
them.  Would  it  be  possible  to  find  six  souls  more  diverse }  One 
of  your  sons  seems  to  have  had  no  instruction  at  all — has  he  had 
any.?  Say  you,  "Certainly  ;  he  had  precisely  the  same  instruction 
that  the  others  received. "  "Well,  but,"  I  say,  "look  at  him — 
careless,  thoughtless,  all  but  mindless."  Say  you,  "That  is  true, 
and  it  is  a  mystery  to  me,  for  I  take  as  much  care  of  him  as  I  take  of 


240  SOWING  SPIRITUAL   SEED. 

the  others."  Take  another  :  you  gave  him  instruction  along  with 
the  others,  and  he  has  forgotten  every  word  you  ever  said  to  him. 
Say  you,  ' '  Because  he  no  sooner  gets  out  of  the  house  than  some- 
body lures  him  away  from  the  path  upon  which  he  started.  If 
this  boy  were  promised  a  coin  of  silver — ay,  when  he  was  younger, 
if  any  one  had  tempted  him  with  three  marbles — he  would  have 
forgotten  every  instruction  his  mother  gave  him  ps  to  the  day's 
duty."  And  this  pride  of  the  family,  gem  of  all,  thoughtful, 
loving,  wise,  industrious,  his  mother's  other  self,  his  father's  all 
but  idol — the  seed  was  sown  in  this  case  in  good  ground,  and  has 
brought  forth  an  hundredfold. 

This  is  the  parable  over  again.  Certainly,  and  there  is  no  other 
parable.  This  is  the  one  report ;  it  was  read  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  or  rather  spoken,  from  the  ship  ;  it  has  been  read  in  all 
the  missionary  halls  in  Christendom  year  after  year  ever  since,  and 
the  last  report  that  will  be  read  in  those  halls  will  be  this  parable 
modernised.  The  tone,  the  music  will  be  the  same,  the  figures 
only  will  be  changed  ;  there  will  be  no  change  in  the  inner  and 
vital  substance  until,  indeed,  the  time  shall  come  when  Christ 
shall  have  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  for  a  possession — when  there  will  be  but  one  sentence 
in  the  report;  that  sentence,  "Hallelujah,  the  Lord  God  omnip- 
otent reigneth. "  But  until  that  report  be  rendered,  this  parable 
will  continue  to  be  the  basis  upon  which  every  secretary  of  every 
society,  the  head  of  every  school,  the  lecturer  of  every  college,  the 
leader  of  every  reform  will  base  his  annual  report. 

I  see  this,  of  course,  most  plainly  in  the  matter  of  Churches.  The 
sermons  are  the  same,  the  labour  of  a  lifetime  is  the  same — what 
is  my  report  about  you  .?  Precisely  what  I  find  in  this  parable  :  I 
cannot  get  away  from  the  lines  of  this  parabolical  representation 
of  you  all.  I  have  uttered  common  prayer,  I  have  spoken  to  the 
congregation,  as  a  whole,  year  after  year,  I  have  done  my  best  to 
arrest  attention  and  satisfy  pious  expectation — what  is  the  result 
to-day?  This  parable,  and  nothing  but  this.  Some  seed  has 
fallen  by  the  wayside,  and  has  been  picked  up  ;  some  in  the  stony 
places,  a  joy  for  a  moment  or  two,  great  delight  whilst  the  service 
lasted,  but  there  was  no  deepness  of  earth,  and  it  soon  withered 
away.  Some  has  fallen  among  thorns,  and  some  of  the  seeds 
have  fallen  upon  good  ground.      I  need  not  any  learned  and 


MATTHEW  XIII.  1-23.  241 

ingenious  mind  to  expound  this  parable  to  me  or  prove  its 
underlying  truth.  It  is  the  picture  of  every  ministry,  philanthropic, 
educational,  and  religious. 

The  explanation  given,  in  verse  15  is  awful,  yet  satisfactory. 
' '  For  this  people' s  heart  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of 
hearing,  and  their  eyes  they  have  closed,  lest  at  any  time  they 
should  see  with  their  eyes  and  hear  with  their  ears  and  should 
understand  with  their  hearts,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I 
should  heal  them. ' '  They  suffer  the  consequences  of  their  own 
acts.  Observe  the  expression,  "  Their  eyes  have  //^^  closed. "  It 
is  not  "Their  eyes  have  /closed  :"  the  action  was  their  own,  and 
they  suffer  the  results  of  their  own  perversity.  Be  not  deceived  : 
God  is  not  mocked  :  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap. 

The  twelfth  verse  is  fulfilled  in  every  man's  history.  "For 
whosoever  hath  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  that  hath  not  from 
him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  he  hath. ' '  We  lose  what  we 
do  not  use,  we  forfeit  what  we  do  not  employ,  what  we  put  away 
falls  into  desuetude,  and  is  cankered  and  is  lost.  To  him  that 
hath  exercised  his  muscle  more  muscle  shall  be  given  ;  from  him 
who  hath  not  exercised  his  muscle  shall  be  taken  away  even  the 
muscle  which  he  began  to  have.  We  cannot  keep  things  at  a 
standstill  :  it  is  always  gaining  or  always  losing  :  a  man  is  not  the 
same  at  the  end  of  twenty  years  as  he  was  at  the  beginning.  No 
man  is  the  same  at  the  end  of  a  sermon  as  he  was  at  the  beginning 
of  the  discourse  :  new  responsibility  has  entered  into  his  life,  a 
new  chance  has  operated  in  his  thinking,  a  grand  opportunity  has 
been  presented  to  him  which  he  has  either  accepted  or  neglected. 

These  laws  and  principles  have  been  regarded  as  great  mys- 
teries, whereas  they  are  among  the  common  facts  of  human 
history.  This  is  the  sovereignty  of  unchangeable  law,  this  is  the 
law  of  the  garden  and  of  the  field,  it  is  the  law  of  study,  it 
is  the  law  of  action  and  of  prayer.  Wherever  you  find  any 
operation  you  find  this  law,  wherever  you  find  any  capacity 
you  find  the  reason  of  it  in  the  man  himself,  wherever  you 
find  stupidity  you  find  it  in  the  action  of  the  man  himself. 
The  light  would  stream  over  the  whole  house  if  we  would  open 


242  REFUSING   THE  GOSPEL. 

the  windows  :  Heaven's  angels  would  sing  to  us  if  we  would  but 
listen.  But  if  we  close  our  eyes  and  stop  our  ears  and  fill  our 
hearts  with  vanities  and  lies,  we  cannot  wonder  that  the  holiest 
revelations  fall  upon  us  like  rains  upon  the  wilderness,  or  pass 
unrecognised  in  the  stupor  of  our  sleep  or  in  the  absorption  of 
our  worldliness. 


Llii. 

PRAYER. 

AuMiGHTY  God,  the  day  is  thine,  the  house  and  the  Book  are  thine, 
and  at  thine  altar  do  we  now  bow  down  ourselves  in  homage  and  in  ex- 
pectation. There  is  a  song  in  our  heart  as  well  as  upon  our  tongue,  and 
in  the  hidden  places  of  our  mind  are  desires  we  shall  never  express  in 
words.  But  thou  knowest  us  outwardly  and  inwardly  ;  that  which  is 
spoken  thou  dost  hear,  and  that  which  is  unsaid  thou  dost  understand. 
Behold  we  are  now  before  thee  as  sinners,  burdened  with  guilt,  stung 
through  and  through  with  remorse,  and  yet  there  is  in  our  hearts  an  ex- 
pectation, inspired  by  thy  Spirit,  that  shall  be  more  than  satisfied  by  the 
fulness  of  the  meaning  of  the  cross.  We  will  sing  of  mercy  and  judg- 
ment— surely  of  mercy  more,  for  thy  mercy  has  been  tender  and  thy 
kindness  has  been  loving,  and  thy  lovingkindness  and  thy  tender  mercy 
have  been  with  us  all  the  days  of  our  life.  We  were  born  in  the  mystery 
of  thy  power,  we  have  been  sustained  by  the  mystery  of  thy  providence, 
and  we  are  saved  by  the  mystery  of  thy  grace.  We  know  not  our  begin- 
ning nor  do  we  know  our  ending  ;  we  know  but  imperfectly  the  present, 
passing,  dying  moment,  and  as  for  our  strength  it  is  as  a  dying  flame. 
Yet  how  hast  thou  nourished  us  even  as  a  nurse  nourisheth  and  cherish- 
eth  her  children  :  thou  hast  gathered  the  lambs  in  thine  arms,  thou  hast 
gently  led  thy  flock  up  steep  places,  and  thou  hast  made  thy  loved  ones 
to  lie  down  at  noon  in  the  place  and  rest  of  the  shadow.  Thou  hast 
found  for  us  wells  in  the  wilderness  and  streams  in  stony  places,  and  the 
bitterness  thou  hast  made  sweet,  and  the  darkness  thou  hast  filled  with 
stars. 

Thou  art  very  gracious  unto  us,  and  herein  is  the  rest  of  our  lives. 
This  is  the  mystery  of  our  peace — when  we  undertake  for  ourselves  we 
do  bring  our  whole  life  into  confusion  and  humiliation  :  when  we  obey 
thy  word  and  rest  in  thine  Almightiness,  and  yield  ourselves  with  all  the 
unreserve  of  perfect  love  to  thy  purpose  and  thy  plan,  then  do  all  things 
work  together  for  good,  then  do  our  souls  come  into  great  harvesting, 
yea  they  are  brought  into  the  Lord's  banqueting  house,  and  thy  banner 
over  them  is  love.  We  will  not  intermeddle  with  the  things  we  do  not 
understand.  We  understand  nothing,  therefore  will  we  not  intermeddle 
at  all.  We  are  here  on  thy  responsibility,  we  are  thy  children,  we  did 
not  form  ourselves  nor  did  we  ask  to  be  here  or  to  be  anywhere  in  all 
thy  universe — thou  art  our  Creator,  yea  our  Father,  though  Abraham  be 


244  PRA  YER. 

ignorant  of  us,  and  in  thine  Almightiness  will  we  rest,  and  we  will  await 
the  unfolding  of  thy  revelation  with  all  the  hopefulness  of  assured  confi- 
dence, knowing  that  all  things  are  under  thy  control,  and  that  the  pillars 
of  thy  throne  are  founded  upon  infinite  righteousness. 

Thou  dost  show  us  strange  things,  and  things  that  ought  to  touch  us 
much  as  we  are  passing  swiftly  through  this  varying  life.  Thou  dost 
lead  us  to  the  grave  and  show  us  the  place  where  our  bodies  shall  lie  : 
thou  dost  point  us  to  the  blue  heavens  and  create  in  our  hearts  a  wonder 
what  can  be  within  those  curtainings  of  azure.  Thou  dost  bring  us  into 
strange  circumstances  which  we  cannot  disentangle,  and  into  combina- 
tions which  afflict  us  with  perplexity.  Thou  dost  start  the  tears  into  our 
eyes  ;  there  they  stand,  blinding  often,  and  yet  giving  us  another  sight, 
even  into  the  inner  beauty  of  thy  movement  and  the  inner  sacredness  and 
grandeur  of  thy  purpose.  Help  us  in  all  things  to  rest  in  the  Lord  and 
wait  patiently  for  him,  and  the  reward  of  an  inspired  patience  shall  be 
great. 

We  give  ourselves  to  thee  again  and  again — a  poor  gift,  but  all  we  have. 
Take  us,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  as  the  purchased  possession  of  thy  Son, 
the  prey  taken  by  the  mighty  hand  that  was  nailed  for  a  moment  to  the 
cross,  and  receive  us,  one  and  all,  broken,  shattered,  stained  as  we  are, 
into  thy  family,  thy  house,  glowing  with  the  fire  of  thy  love,  thy  king- 
dom, too  sacred  to  be  violated  by  the  power  of  any  foe.  Rebuke  us,  but 
not  with  judgment  ;  lay  thine  hand  upon  us,  but  not  thy  rod  ;  when  we 
are  foolish,  presumptuous,  self-confident,  defiant.  Lord,  smite  us  not  with 
the  thunder  of  thy  strength,  nor  laugh  at  us  with  the  derisiveness  of  thine 
infinite  scorn,  but  lay  thine  hand  upon  us  gently,  turn  our  faces  to  the 
light,  and  show  us  how  foolish  we  are  and  ignorant  before  thee,  point  out 
to  us  the  fewness  of  our  days,  the  littleness  and  the  perishableness  of  our 
strength,  and  may  we,  thus  chided  from  heaven,  rebuked  and  instructed 
by  our  Father,  fall  upon  our  knees,  own  our  folly,  and  confess  our  sin, 
and  be  received  again  into  the  favour  we  do  not  comprehend. 

Thou  art  taking  the  years  from  us  swiftly  and  silently  :  we  know  not 
that  thou  art  removing  them,  until  behold  !  the  number  is  one  less,  and 
men  are  old  before  they  have  reckoned  up  their  age.  So  teach  us  to 
number  our  days  as  to  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom  ;  may  we  become 
deeper  in  our  nature,  mellower  in  our  feeling,  tenderer  in  our  sympathy, 
larger  and  broader  in  our  charity,  more  like  Jesus,  more  like  the  Son  of 
God  in  all  the  beauty  of  his  inimitable  perfection,  and  may  men  take 
knowledge  of  us  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus,  and  have  learned  of  him, 
and  that  we  now  speak  with  the  accent  of  his  very  tongue. 

The  Lord  send  the  blessing  of  forgiveness  upon  us  all — we  pray  in  the 
name  of  the  one  Life,  the  one  Death,  the  one  Blood,  the  one  Priesthood, 
"  God  be  merciful  mnto  us  sinners."     Amen. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  24-43.  245 


Matthew  xiii.  24-43. 

24.  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying,  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  which  sowed  good  seed  in  his  field  : 

25.  But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among  the 
wheat,  and  went  his  way. 

26.  But  when  the  blade  was  sprung  up,  and  brought  forth  fruit,  then 
appeared  the  tares  also. 

27.  So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him,  Sir, 
didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  from  whence  then  hath  it  tares  ? 

28.  He  said  unto  them,  An  enemy  hath  done  this.  The  servants  said 
unto  him.  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go  and  gather  them  up  ? 

29.  But  he  said,  Nay  ;  lest  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  also 
the  wheat  with  them. 

30.  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest :  and  in  the  time  of  harvest 
I  will  say  to  the  reapers.  Gather  ye  together  first  the  tares,  and  bind  them 
in  bundles  to  burn  them  :  but  gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn. 

31.  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying.  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  a  man  took,  and  sowed 
in  his  field  : 

32.  Which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds  :  but  when  it  is  grown,  it  is 
the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the 
air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof. 

33.  Another  parable  spake  he  unto  them  :  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened. 

34.  All  these  things  spake  Jesus  unto  the  multitude  in  parables  ;  and 
without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  them  : 

35.  That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying, 
I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables  ;  I  will  utter  things  which  have  been 
kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

36.  Then  Jesus  sent  the  multitude  away,  and  went  into  the  house  : 
and  his  disciples  came  unto  him,  saying.  Declare  unto  us  the  parable  of 
the  tares  of  the  field. 

37.  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  He  that  soweth  the  good  seed  is 
the  Son  of  man  ; 

38.  The  field  is  the  world  ;  the  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  king- 
dom ;  but  the  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked  one  ; 

39.  The  enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil  ;  the  harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world  ;  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels. 

40.  As  therefore  the  tares  are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire  ;  so 
shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  this  world. 

41.  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather 
out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity  ; 


246  SOCIAL  ANALOGIES. 

42.  And  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire  :  there  shall  be  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

43.  Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of 
their  Father.     Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

THE  TARES  AND  THE  WHEAT. 

WE  found  that  the  parable  of  the  sower  has  its  proofs  in 
human  history,  and  being  true  in  human  society,  we  had 
no  difficulty  in  understanding  its  application  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Our  test  inquiry  regarding  all  these  parables,  is — How 
do  they  fit  the  circumstances  which  are  now  round  about  us?  Are 
they  little  pieces  of  ancient  history,  graphic  enough  as  bearing 
upon  the  time  to  which  they  specially  refer,  or  are  they  parts  of  all 
history,  running  contemporaneously  with  human  development  from 
age  to  age,  always  new,  always  jusi  written,  the  ink  never  dry? 
The  first  parable  which  we  have  just  studied  fits  the  circumstances 
of  to-day  perfectly  :  let  us  see  whether  the  second  fits  them  equally 
well.  It  should  be  pointed  out  that  in  adopting  this  method  of 
criticism  we  are  keeping  strictly  within  the  limits  of  the  parables 
themselves,  because  Christ  does  actually  liken  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  to  earthly  persons  and  earthly  things.  We  study  the 
parables  at  the  earthly  end.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto 
a  sower,  like  unto  a  merchantman,  like  unto  leaven,  like  unto  a  net, 
like  unto  a  treasure  hid  in  a  field — so  he  gives  us  the  earthly  end 
as  well  as  the  heavenly  end,  and  we  can  thoroughly  examine  the 
one  and  thus  enable  ourselves  wisely  to  judge  the  other.  Let  us 
follow  these  same  lines  of  inquiry  with  regard  to  the  parable  of 
the  wheat  and  the  tares. 

This  parable  is  an  exact  picture  of  all  endeavours  to  do  good  in 
the  world.  We  have  not  got  one  inch  beyond  this  parable  to-day, 
with  all  our  improvements  and  amplifications  of  service  and  re- 
adjustment of  methods.  The  account  which  could  be  given  of  all 
educational,  philanthropic,  patriotic.  Christian  endeavour  is  within 
the  four  lines,  so  to  say,  of  this  mixed  parable.  It  enters  into  a 
good  man's  heart  to  publish  good  ideas  or  to  assist  useful  reforms  : 
he  lectures  in  public  and  in  private,  he  freely  spends  his  time  and 
his  money  in  spreading  the  views  and  principles  which  he  holds  : 
he  establishes  schools  and  publishes  literature,  he  lays  himself  out 


MATTHEW  Xni.  24-43.  247 

in  every  way  to  enlighten  and  benefit  the  public.  Do  you  suppose 
that  such  a  man  will  be  allowed  to  go  on  without  an  enemy  follow- 
ing him  and  sowing  tares  in  the  wheat-field  of  his  noble  and 
beneficent  endeavour }  He  will  be  followed  by  the  enemy,  the 
enemy  will  awaken  suspicions,  he  will  question  the  man's  motives, 
he  will  assail  the  man's  reputation,  he  will  throw  doubt  upon  the 
man's  integrity,  in  a  thousand  ways  open  to  vicious  ingenuity  he 
will  endeavour  to  thwart  and  baffle  the  purposes  of  the  good  man' s 
heart.  Is  this  true,  or  is  it  not — to-day  .?  Is  the  good  man  living 
and  is  the  enemy  dead,  buried,  gone  for  ever  and  forgotten  }  Do 
not  the  light  and  the  shadow  always  go  together  ?  There  is  no 
ghostly  mystery  here  :  you  cannot  point  to  a  wheat-field  in  which 
no  tares  are  sown. 

Take  your  own  education.  Your  father  and  your  schoolmaster 
and  your  friends  all  have  endeavoured  to  sow  the  seeds  of  a  good 
understanding  in  your  mind  and  heart — yet  what  do  we  see  in 
your  life .?  Your  very  education  turned  to  bad  purposes,  your 
very  training  made  to  add  to  your  efficiency  in  doing  that  which 
is  wrong.  How  came  those  tares  into  the  field  }  Your  mother 
did  not  sow  them,  nor  your  father,  nor  your  teacher,  nor  your 
most  loving  friend — whence  came  those  tares  .-*  An  enemy  hath 
done  this. 

Look  at  your  prosperity,  man  of  business  :  how  riches  have  been 
showered  upon  you.  When  you  were  poor  and  little  in  your  own 
eyes,  men  liked  you  because  you  were  then  gentle,  sympathetic, 
approachable  :  you  had  a  heart  that  could  be  approached,  and 
that  could  show  itself  in  all  the  tenderness  of  loving  sympathy  to 
those  who  were  in  circumstances  requiring  the  medicament  of  your 
love  and  patient  care — but  with  your  riches  there  has  come  what 
men  call  presumption,  or  self-confidence,  or  haughtiness  :  you  are 
no  longer  gentle,  simple,  tender,  sympathetic,  accessible.  How 
did  these  tares  come  into  the  field  }     An  enemy  hath  done  this. 

It  is  always  the  same.  No  man  can  preach  without  having  the 
enemy  at  his  heels  ;  the  enemy  is  as  busy  as  the  preacher ;  the 
enemy  is  now  preaching  to  you  as  certainly  as  I  am  endeavouring 
to  preach  to  you.  Some  of  you  are  buying  and  selling,  some  of 
you  are  now  wool-gathering,  some  of  you  are  a  thousand  miles 
away,  some  of  you  are  writing  to-morrow' s  letters,  doing  to-morrow' s 
business  and  answering  to-morrow's  questions,  and  when  all  is 


248  TARES  IN  OUR  OWN  HEARTS. 

over  you  will  awake  as  out  of  a  confused  dream  that  has  a  kind  of 
religious  haze  about  it.  The  enemy  is  working  as  well  as  the 
preacher,  he  is  suggesting  all  kinds  of  doubts,  difficulties,  and 
suspicions,  prompting  all  kinds  of  questions  that  will  break  in 
upon  an  implicit  and  loving  and  loyal  obedience,  directing  your 
attention  to  little  points  and  to  transient  accidents — the  occasion 
rather  than  to  its  solemn  purpose — which  is  to  lift  the  soul  into 
the  light,  and  to  gird  it  with  the  very  strength  of  God.  The 
enemy  will  lure  you  into  considerations  of  place  and  colour,  of 
manner  and  length  of  service,  and  into  a  thousand  little  petty, 
frivolous  discussions,  and  will  succeed  if  he  lure  the  mind  away 
from  the  sovereign  purpose  of  the  occasion — which  is  to  make  you 
pray.  And  at  the  end  of  the  whole,  with  broken  mind,  confused, 
bewildered  head  and  heart,  neither  upward  nor  downward  in  its 
look,  but  halting,  we  may  have  to  say,  "  An  enemy  hath  done 
this."  So  the  parable  is  not  ghostly  and  magical,  but  has  its  base 
upon  the  lines  of  our  common  consciousness  and  experience,  and 
as  it  is  awfully  true  at  the  one  end  it  may  be  equally  true  at  the  other. 

The  inquiry  which  was  made  by  the  servants  is  the  inquiry 
which  is  made  to-day.  The  servants  of  the  householder  came  and 
said  unto  him,  '  *  Sir,  didst  thou  not  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ? 
from  whence  then  hath  it  tares  V  We  have  not  got  beyond  that 
inquiry  ;  it  is  the  puzzle  of  every  honest  mind  how  the  tares  came 
to  be  mixed  up  with  our  thinking  and  feeling,  our  motive  and  our 
service.  It  is  sometimes  a  mystery  to  ourselves  ;  we  are  puzzled 
to  the  point  of  intellectual  and  moral  distraction  by  the  problem 
of  what  we  call  the  origin  of  evil.  You  cannot  go  up  and  down 
society  without  putting  the  very  question  which  the  servants  of  the 
householder  put  to  their  master.  Go  into  an  educated  company, 
listen  to  the  conversation,  some  parts  of  it  bright,  pure,  noble, 
elevated — and  then  the  bitter  word,  the  unkind  suggestion,  the 
harsh  aspiration,  the  uncharitable  judgment,  the  biting  or  venom- 
ous criticism.  You  say,  "  Were  not  all  these  people  educated 
and  well  brought  up  V '  Yes.  From  whence  then  are  these  tares  ? 
Ay,  from  whence. 

The  same  inquiry  has  its  place  in  a  higher  region — we  have  pre- 
cisely this  experience  in  the  Church.  We  arc  puzzled  by  the  tares 
that  are  growing  in  our  own  hearts.  I  can  sec  the  tares  in  your 
life,  and  you  can  see  the  tares  in  mine — but  there  are  tares  in  all 


MATTHEW  XIII.  24-43.  249 

human  life,  even  of  the  very  best  kind,  and  the  perplexing  inquiry 
that  brings  with  it  a  heart-aching  and  a  burning  agony,  is — How 
did  those  tares  come  to  be  here  ?  Sir,  have  not  these  people  been 
to  church  ?  Sir,  have  not  these  people  been  bowing  down  at  the 
altar  ?  Sir,  have  not  these  people  been  to  the  holy  sacrament  ? 
From  whence  are  these  tares — of  evil  words  and  unkind  deeds 
and  movements  and  adventures  and  experiments  and  tricks  of  an 
ungodly  kind  ?  The  two  things  do  not  harmonise.  Sir,  was  not 
that  man  praying  on  Sunday  .?  "  Yes."  Then  how  did  he  come 
to  be  doing  knavish  tricks  within  four-and-twenty  hours  of  his  own 
Amen  .?  Was  not  that  man  singing  in  the  church  .?  ' '  Yes. ' '  Then 
how  does  he  come  to  be  uttering  all  those  discords,  those  dissonant, 
harsh-breaking  tones  of  human  speech,  whilst  yet  the  cadence  of 
his  own  hymn  is  trembling  and  dying  in  the  distant  air .? 

So  this  parable  might  have  been  written  yesternight,  and 
we  might  be  reading  it  for  the  first  time  this  morning.  The 
teacher  that  can  throw  himself  over  the  arch  of  nineteen  hundred 
years  thus,  and  talk  to  us  in  our  own  language,  must  have  had  at 
least  great  intellectual  prevision  and  moral  shrewdness  and  breadth 
enough  of  sympathy  to  be  more  than  any  man  we  have  ever  known. 
If  Jesus  of  Nazareth  were  here  to-day,  he  could  not  amend  this 
parable  in  any  of  its  facts  and  applications.  Though  nineteen 
hundred  years  old,  it  is  not  a  day  old  ;  judged  by  the  necessity  of 
the  occasion  it  is  as  new  as  our  last  action,  it  is  as  appropriate 
as  the  very  last  word  of  wisdom  we  ever  uttered.  In  this  sense  is 
the  Testament  always  new  to  me.  I  am  not  endeavouring  to  verify 
faded  ink  ;  I  ask  no  chemist  to  help  me  to  blacken  this  yellow 
fluid — 'tis  black  enough,  I  can  read  every  jot  and  titde  of  it,  and  I 
say,  if  this  Man  is  as  sound  in  his  higher  reasoning  which  trans- 
cends my  power  to  follow  him  in  all  the  entirety  of  his  sweep  as  he 
is  in  those  parts  which  I  do  understand,  verily  he  is  the  Revealer, 
the  Builder,  and  the  Glory  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  amongst 


So  far,  then,  the  parable  fits  human  circumstances  with  exquisite 
delicacy  and  precision.  Let  us  go  further.  The  answer  made  by 
the  householder  is  the  only  answer  we  have  to-day  about  all 
vicious  and  unhappy  results.  ' '  An  enemy  hath  done  this. ' '  That 
is  our  one  and  only  reply.      It  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter. 


250  THE  POWER   OF   JEALOUSY. 

it  touches  the  difficulty  on  every  side  and  at  every  point.  Every 
man  has  his  enemies,  every  man's  work  is  watched,  and  every 
attempt  will  be  made  to  mar  it.  There  are  men  who  love  to  do 
evil ;  they  are  not  happy  except  in  the  work  of  destruction.  It  is 
easy  to  do  evil— they  have  chosen  the  light  end  of  the  burden.  It 
is  easy  to  suggest  doubts  and  difficulties  about  human  character 
and  purpose  and  motive  :  it  is  easy  to  sneer,  it  is  easy  to  tempt. 
There  are  men  who  would  spoil  your  business  if  they  could  ;  the 
enemy  was  on  your  track  when  you  began  the  business  of  life  ;  he 
tried  to  take  away  your  clients  and  patrons,  he  depreciated  your 
goods,  he  said  he  would  crush  you. 

Tyndale'  s  translation  of  this  verse  opens  a  new  field  of  criticism. 
He  reads,  * '  An  envious  person  hath  done  this. ' '  Instead  of  read- 
ing ' '  an  enemy, ' '  he  reads  ' '  an  envious  person, ' '  and  that  seems 
to  bring  the  text  nearer  and  nearer  to  us,  and  to  make  it  appal- 
lingly English.  An  envious  person — beware  of  envy,  it  is  cruel, 
it  is  the  sister  of  jealousy,  it  is  relentless,  it  will  plague  your  life, 
it  will  rob  every  flower  of  its  perfume,  it  will  bar  the  light  out  of 
every  window  in  your  house,  your  dinner  to-day  will  be  no  refresh- 
ment to  you,  but  will  leave  your  hunger  still  gnawing  you,  if  you 
envy  some  other  man's  larger  lot.  And  this  is  one  of  the  last 
passions  and  vices  to  be  overcome  ;  who  can  fail  to  envy  a  fellow- 
tradesman  who  is  doing  better  than  he  is  doing  ?  Who  can  fail 
to  envy  the  preacher  who  is  succeeding  better  than  he  himself  is 
succeeding }  And  envy  eats  up  its  victim  ;  it  does  not  hurt 
the  person  who  is  envied,  but  it  eats  like  a  canker  the  soul  that 
indulges  in  it.  You  have  no  pleasure  in  your  own  house  whilst 
you  are  envying  another  man's  dwelling-place  ;  all  your  gardens 
and  fields  and  horses  and  estates  and  servants  are  nothing  to  you 
until  you  can  get  that  little  corner  or  patch  of  vineyard  outside  there, 
and  the  want  of  that  will  make  you  a  poor  man  for  ever,  though 
you  count  your  money  by  millions  and  speak  of  your  lands  in 
miles. 

Thus  again  the  parable  becomes  quite  our  own.  The  inquiry 
is  ours,  the  reply  is  ours,  the  parable  is  true  to  circumstances  as 
we  ourselves  know  them  ;  therefore  it  may  be  true  in  any  larger 
application  which  the  parabolist  himself  may  attach  to  the  mean- 
ing of  his  graphic  similitude.     An  enemy  hath  done  this.     Here 


MATTHEW  XIII.  24-43.  251 

is  a  young  man  who  has  been  befooled,  tempted,  led  off  into 
downward  paths  ;  both  his  feet  are  fastened  in  cruel  snares,  the 
disappointment  of  a  lifetime  culminates  in  him.  What  do  you 
think  about  the  case  ?  An  enemy  hath  done  this.  This  is  not 
the  handiwork  of  a  friend,  there  is  no  nobleness  here,  this  is  not 
the  spirit  that  would  save  the  world,  this  is  enmity  incarnate. 
An  unsuspecting  mind  has  been  poisoned  by  some  deceiver,  its 
faith  has  been  broken,  its  sweet  and  trustful  prayer  has  been  turned 
aside,  a  bar  sinister  has  been  drawn  upon  the  escutcheon  of  its  in- 
tegrity, the  old  frankness  has  gone,  the  open  face,  the  ringing 
voice  that  had  no  wrinkle  in  it,  that  was  spread  out  in  ingenuous 
and  beauteous  simplicity — all  is  changed.  The  very  eye  is  altered, 
the  tone  io  ambiguous,  the  movement  is  shuffling,  the  whole  air 
throbs  as  if  troubled.  How  do  you  account  for  it  ?  In  no  words 
more  incisive  than  these — an  enemy  hath  done  this  ;  it  is  bad 
work — you  should  know  the  character  of  the  man  who  did  it  by 
the  results  he  has  brought  about.  It  was  no  angel  that  gave  the 
look  to  that  eye  that  is  now  in  it,  it  was  no  angel  that  altered  that 
sweet  tone  of  childhood  into  the  muffled  noise  of  a  man  who  wants 
to  utter  a  double  meaning  in  every  speech  he  makes.  An  enemy 
hath  done  this. 

Let  us  be  frank  with  ourselves.  He  may  come  to  us  in  the 
guise  of  a  teacher,  he  may  have  come  visored  as  a  friend,  but  by 
his  results  let  his  true  character  be  known.  He  was  an  enemy, 
his  enmity  is  incurable — avoid  him  for  the  future.  A  generous  soul 
has  been  dwarfed  and  impoverished  of  its  noblest  impulses,  the 
soul  that  always  had  a  frank  ' '  yes' '  broad  as  an  opening  day  to 
ever}^  appeal  made  to  his  charity  has  become  soured,  suspicious — 
he  asks  questions  now  which  never  would  have  entered  into  his 
mind  in  earlier  days ;  he  calculates,  he  counts,  and  reckons  and 
estimates  and  puts  down.      How  do  you  account  for  this  change  ? 

It  is  easy  to  see  where  the  enemy  has  been  working  upon  a  man  : 
the  tares  cannot  be  hidden.  It  is  easy  to  me  to  know  instantane- 
ously whether  a  man  is  going  down  or  going  up — ^t/eel  it.  There 
are  some  impressions  too  delicate  for  speech,  but  still  they  have 
their  influence  upon  the  mind.  Let  us  take  care.  It  is  a  sight 
to  cry  over  with  rivers  of  tears  to  see  the  men  we  loved  and  all  but 
worshipped  grown  all  over  with  tares.  They  used  to  be  so  noble, 
kixi,   sympathetic,  generous,   helpful — the  world  could  never  be 


252  UNTIL    THE  HARVEST. 

cold  to  us  so  long  as  they  were  in  it.  Day  by  day  the  -tares 
grow  in  number  and  strength  till  we  know  not  what  the  end  will 
be. 

So  far  the  parable  closely  identifies  itself  with  our  consciousness 
and  experience.  Let  us  see  if  it  continues  this  closeness  to  the 
very  end.  The  appeal  of  the  householder  is  the  most  solemn 
appeal  which  any  man  can  make  to-day  under  similar  circum- 
stances. What  was  the  appeal  of  the  householder  1  The  servants 
said,  "  Shall  we  go  and  gather  up  the  tares.?"  The  householder 
said,  ' '  No — till  the  harvest. ' '  That  appeal  cannot  be  altered  :  it 
is  magnificent  in  its  sublimity,  it  is  grand  in  its  heroic  patience. 
He  will  have  no  violence,  he  will  not  have  the  wheat  injured.  Let 
both  grow  together  till  the  harvest.  Ay,  there  is  a  final  day,  there 
is  an  hour  of  separation,  there  is  a  crisis  in  which  the  good  are 
separated  from  the  bad,  the  sheep  from  the  goats,  the  wheat  from 
the  tares.  The  confusion  is  not  everlasting  :  the  work  will  be 
given  up  to  the  holy  angels,  they  cannot  mistake  the  good  for  the 
bad,  or  the  bad  for  the  good  :  the  discriminating  process  shall  go 
on  steadily  until  every  tare  is  out  and  every  grain  of  wheat  shall 
be  saved  for  heaven's  garner. 

Let  us  remit  our  case  to  the  harvest.  Do  not  be  answering  the 
fool  and  the  enemy  ncrvo,  and  thus  wasting  opportunities  which 
ought  to  be  usefully  employed  in  endeavouring  to  do  good,  but 
wait  till  the  harvest.  Then  shall  all  qualities  be  tested,  then  shall 
every  man  have  his  proper  place  and  standing  before  God.  It 
suits  impatient  men  to  be  going  to  work  now  in  this  matter  of 
discrimination.  Our  impatience  is  our  littleness.  It  is  the  hin- 
drance of  every  ministry,  spiritual,  moral,  educational,  commercial 
— and  there  are  fussy  people  who  want  to  be  doing  something 
now,  as  they  suppose  their  activity  to  be  :  they  want  to  expel.  O 
thou  fool,  if  I  begin  the  work  of  expulsion,  it  will  be  by  throwing 
thee  out  from  the  topmost  window  of  the  church.  Expel }  It  is 
not  mine  to  anathematise  or  excommunicate,  or  open  the  door 
that  any  man  may  go  out.  My  appeal  is — till  the  harvest.  I  am 
not  a  judge  or  an  overseer  invested  with  the  responsibility  of  final 
criticism,  I  want  to  be  a  teacher,  a  friend,  a  helper,  to  see  the 
very  best  side  of  every  man,  and  to  encourage  that  best  side  in 
continual  and  useful  growth. 


MATTHEW  XIII .  24-43.  253 

Leaving  the  parable  for  a  moment,  and  not  attempting  to  follow 
all  its  lines  out,  lest  by  mixture  of  metaphor  I  should  fail  of  my 
immediate  purpose,  let  me  appeal  to  myself,  and  through  myself 
to  those  who  hear  me,  and  who  may  need  the  appeal,  to  cultivate 
with  a  more  ardent  diligence  the  growth  of  the  wheat.  There  is 
wheat  in  every  one  of  you.  Take  that  road  of  hope.  And 
every  one  of  you  has  his  enemies  that  want  to  sow  tares  in 
his  soul.  What  I  say  unto  one  I  say  unto  all — Watch.  And 
some  of  you  by  the  grace  of  God  have  been  too  much  for  the 
enemy,  too  wakeful  :  you  have  disappointed  him  to  a  degree  which 
inflicts  upon  him  the  severest  mortification.  Some  of  you  are 
nearly  all  wheat  :  I  would  to  God  I  were  myself.  Let  there  be 
no  violence  in  your  education,  no  forcing,  no  dragging  out  with  a 
hand  that  is  unaccustomed  to  the  process,  but  let  there  be  solemn, 
quiet  waiting,  knowing  that  the  harvest  will  come,  and  God  will 
do  what  is  right  in  the  end  of  the  age. 


LIV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  dost  take  the  years  from  us,  one  by  one,  silently 
but  surely,  and  no  man  can  lay  his  hand  upon  that  which  is  gone  and 
bring  it  back  again  and  set  it  in  its  former  place.  Behold  thou  dost 
change  our  countenances,  and  send  us  away  :  little  by  little  thou  dost 
take  the  strength  out  of  our  bone  and  sinew  ;  behold  men  are  aged  and 
bowed  down  before  they  have  fully  reckoned  their  years.  So  teach  us  to 
number  our  years  as  to  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.  Are  there  not 
twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  and  whilst  we  count  them,  they  fly,  and  are  less 
in  number  at  the  close  than  at  the  beginning.  We  have  scarcely  breath 
enough  to  say  the  year  is  born,  until  lo,  it  begins  to  wither  away.  O  that 
we  might  buy  up  the  opportunity,  and  redeem  the  time  with  fulness  of 
love  that  knows  no  break  in  its  sacred  and  ardent  continuity.  Help  us 
to  redeem  the  time,  inspire  us  with  the  spirit  of  importunity  which  beats 
upon  heaven's  gate  with  the  violence  of  both  hands  until  it  be  opened 
and  we  be  admitted  into  the  higher  places.  Enable  us  to  be  amongst 
those  wise  servants  who  shall  be  found  waiting  when  their  Lord  cometh, 
eagerly  longing  for  him,  and  sometimes  bitterly  crying  in  their  hearts 
because  of  his  long  delay. 

Behold  we  meet  this  Christmastide,  and  Herod  still  is  king.  The 
young  Child  is  fled  away  to  Egypt,  and  we  wonder  why  he  abideth  there. 
Our  cry  is — Why  do  the  heathen  rage  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain 
thing,  and  kings  and  rulers  suppose  themselves  to  be  a  match  for  the 
Lord  and  his  anointed  ?  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  :  hear  thy  sighing 
Church,  listen  to  thy  moaning,  wondering  bride,  hasten  thy  chariot 
wheels  :  we  are  poor  without  thee,  we  are  cold  without  thee,  we  have  no 
hope  in  thine  absence  ;  and  our  hearts  are  as  lead  within  us  and  they  fall 
down  in  the  bitterness  of  dejection.  Yet  the  times  are  in  thy  hand,  thine 
eye  is  not  slumbering,  thine  hand  is  not  slack,  thou  dost  move  by  a  com- 
pass we  cannot  measure,  thou  dost  take  the  circuit,  the  sweep  whereof  no 
figures  can  represent.  A  thousand  years  are  in  thy  sight  but  as  one  day, 
and  one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years.  We  cannot  measure  thy  circle,  we 
have  no  instruments  by  which  to  reckon  up  thy  movements,  we  can  but 
wait  and  long  and  love  and  serve  and  hope.  O  see  thou  that  our  oil 
does  not  run  out,  but  may  it  be  supplied  by  a  secret  hand  ;  may  the  lamp 
be  trimmed  even  whilst  we  sleep,  lest  our  hope  perish  and  we  become  a 
gazing  stock  and  a  mockery  unto  men. 


PRA  YER.  255 

Bring  in  the  years  as  thou  wilt  :  through  all  violence  and  tumult, 
through  all  uprising  and  rebellion,  severe  and  uncontrollable  discord, 
thou  wilt  bring  in  thy  kingdom.  Thou  makest  a  road  for  its  passage, 
thou  wilt  not  fail  of  thy  purpose,  it  is  a  purpose  of  love,  it  is  a  design  of 
mercy,  it  is  a  plan  of  love — we  therefore  wait  for  thee,  and  we  would 
regard  our  impatience  as  impiety  to  be  repented  of,  and  our  prayers 
wherein  we  would  hasten  thee,  we  would  take  as  expressions  of  our 
weakness.  O  thou  who  dost  rest  in  eternity,  and  come  up  from  everlast- 
ing and  stretch  thy  thoughts  to  everlasting,  give  us  somewhat  of  thine 
own  quietness,  make  us  calm  with  thine  own  peace, fill  us  with  thine  own 
spirit. 

Help  every  good  man  to  work  on  with  a  cheerful  heart  and  an  undi- 
minished hope  :  now  and  again  bring  thy  great  encouragements  to  bear 
upon  him  and  they  shall  prove  to  be  inspirations  of  strength,  and  exten- 
sions and  deepenings  of  his  confidence.  The  Lord  grant  unto  us  some 
sign  of  hopefulness  :  let  us  see  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear,  then  the  yellowing,  goldening  harvest,  and  may  we  hear  the 
sound  of  the  angel's  sickle  as  the  wheat  is  gathered  into  God's  garner. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  the  mercies  of  the  year  now  closing.  Thou  hast 
never  forsaken  us — by  land  and  by  sea,  by  night  and  by  day,  in  health 
and  in  sickness,  in  high  energy  and  complaining  infirmity,  thou  hast  ever 
been  by  our  side.  If  the  shadows  have  been  great,  it  is  only  because  the 
light  has  been  intense  :  who  thou  hast  given  much  sorrow  thou  hast  given 
greater  comfort  ;  where  thou  hast  smitten  the  tree  with  the  axe,  thou 
hast  also  healed  the  heart  with  thy  balm.  The  Lord  receive  our  united 
praises  for  all  the  mercies  of  the  year  now  dying  :  continue  thy  favour 
unto  us  in  great  abundance,  establish  us  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  who  was 
born  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  who  died  and  rose  again  for  the 
same,  whose  great  sweet  name  is  linked  up  for  ever  with  the  world's 
great  sin.  Enable  us  to  preach  thy  word  with  more  fervour,  simplicity, 
tenderness,  unction,  and  determination  to  take  the  prey  from  the 
mighty  :  enable  us  to  hear  thy  word  with  keener  attention,  with  devouter 
thankfulness,  with  larger  expectancy  of  soul.  Enable  us  to  love  thy 
word  with  some  hope  that  our  lives  may  tell  what  our  tongues  can  never 
speak. 

Say  to  those  whose  days  are  numbered,  that  ending  time  is  eternity 
begun,  that  when  the  body  shall  be  thrown  oflf,  the  soul  shall  be  clothed 
upon  with  its  house  from  heaven.  Gather  the  young  together  into  thine 
heart — O  throw  around  them  thine  infinite  and  most  tender  embrace,  and 
by  nearness  to  thee  may  they  find  wisdom  and  the  sobriety  of  heart  which 
is  the  beginning  of  joy.  The  Lord  turn  the  attention  of  all  men  to  the 
cross,  bind  all  hearts  to  the  cross,  lead  all  sinners  to  the  cross,  unite  the 
Church  to  fear,  love,  and  trust  the  cross.  O  cross  of  Christ,  lift  up  thy- 
self above  our  guilt  like  a  star  above  the  darkness,  and  give  us  hope  in 
the  day  of  sore  distress. 

What  we  pray  for  ourselves  we  pray  for  all  the  Churches  of  the  Sav- 


256  THE  SEED   OF  LIBERTY. 

iour,  for  all  good  and  earnest  souls  the  world  over,  for  our  dear  ones 
across  the  sea,  for  our  children  wandering  in  the  ways  of  life  and  endeav- 
ouring to  gain  an  honourable  livelihood,  for  the  sick  and  the  poor,  the 
friendless  and  the  homeless — good  Lord,  gather  up  thyself  into  some 
other  and  greater  effort  of  providential  visitation,  and  show  the  people 
again,  as  thou  has  continually  done,  that  the  Lord  reigneth,  and  that 
there  is  rest  in  faith. 

Regard  the  country  :  God  bless  our  native  land,  whether  it  be  this  or 
that,  whether  it  be  near  or  far  away — bless  with  thy  favour  those  who 
rule  over  us,  direct  and  lead  us.  and  inspire  the  sentiment  of  nations — the 
Lord's  light  be  round  about  them  that  they  stumble  not,  and  the  Lord's 
spirit  be  in  them  that  their  thoughts  may  be  right  and  their  words  may  be 
wise. 

The  whole  earth  is  thine  :  thou  didst  round  it,  thou  didst  fill  it  with 
waters  and  cover  it  with  its  flowers  and  its  forests,  thou  didst  make  the 
birds  to  sing  above  it,  and  find  their  nests  in  its  green  places.  The 
whole  earth  is  thine,  sinful,  wandering,  prodigal  earth — thou  hast  come 
after  that  which  was  lost,  and  thou  wilt  surely  find  it  and  set  it  again  in 
the  brotherhood  of  the  stars,  to  go  out  no  more  for  ever.     Amen. 

Matthevsr  xiii.  31. 

31.  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying.  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  a  man  took  and  sowed 
in  his  field  :  which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds,  but  when  it  is  grown  it 
is  the  greatest  among  herbs  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the 
air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof. 

THE   GRAIN   OF  MUSTARD   SEED. 

IS  it  true  that  there  is  a  conquering  force  in  vitality  />  Do  really 
good  things  always  grow,  and  in  their  expansion  offer  hospi- 
tality and  defence  to  others .?  May  what  is  here  said  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  be  said  of  every  other  kingdom  that  is  true, 
grand,  pure,  and  beneficent .?  If  so,  then  surely  it  may  be  said  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  with  infinitely  multiplied  force,  and  with 
infinitely  extended  meaning.  First  of  all,  therefore,  let  us  grapple 
with  the  case  as  an  earthly  one,  and  then  look  forward  to  its 
heavenly  bearings  and  applications. 

Take,  for  example,  the  mustard  seed  of  liberty ;  would  it  be 
wise  and  right  for  any  great  historian  or  poet  to  say  the  kingdom 
of  nberty  is  like  unto  mustard  seed  which  a  man  took  and  sowed 
in  his  field,  which  indeed  is  a  little  seed,  but  it  so  grows  as  to 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31.  257 

throw  off  all  tyrannies  and  oppressions,  and  give  the  poorest  man 
a  status  and  a  chance  in  life  ?  Would  that  parable  outrage  any 
laws  of  intellectual  conception  or  any  laws  of  intellectual  and 
patriotic  expression  ?  It  would  fit  the  case  precisely,  it  would 
illustrate  in  picture  one  of  the  grandest  doctrines  that  ever  forced 
itself  upon  the  attention  of  mankind.  Liberty  was  the  problem  of 
parliaments,  it  has  been  the  cause  of  wars  ;  men  have  fought  that 
other  men  might  be  kept  in  bondage,  nations  would  not  relax  their 
grip  upon  the  neck  of  millions  of  slaves — but  the  little  mustard 
seed  of  liberty  was  sown,  and  whatever  has  in  it  vitality  given  it 
of  God  must  grow.  The  little  seed  will  take  root,  the  root  will 
expand,  and  growing  roots  will  split  rocks  as  certainly  as  they  can 
be  sundered  by  gunpowder.  That  little  root  will  never  rest  until 
it  has  broken  up  the  huge  rock — so  the  seed  of  liberty  grew  and 
extended  itself  with  beneficent  expansion  in  England,  and  at  the 
cost  of  millions  of  treasure  human  slavery  was  abolished  as  an 
iniquity  and  a  curse. 

What  is  true  of  our  country  has  been  also  true  of  other  lands. 
Wars  have  been  fought,  intrigues  have  been  entered  into,  the  most 
desperate  courses  have  been  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining human  slavery,  but  the  little  mustard  seed  of  liberty  has 
kept  growing  all  the  time,  night  and  day,  never  ceasing  to  grow, 
and  before  its  spreading  roots  the  great  stumbling-blocks  have 
given  way,  and  liberty  is  growing  still,  and  must  grow  until  the 
word  slavery  in  all  its  baser  applications  is  expunged  from  human 
speech,  and  hills  and  valleys  rejoice  in  the  light  of  universal  and 
beneficent  liberty.  So  far  therefore  the  parable  holds  its  place 
amongst  purely  human  and  political  illustrations. 

Take  the  mustard  seed  of  genuine  force  of  character,  high  quality 
of  manhood — would  he  be  a  mere  romancist,  who  said,  ' '  The 
kingdom  of  noble,  pure,  heroic  character  is  like  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  little  to  begin  with,  but  it  will  grow  and  develop  and 
strengthen  until  the  men  who  despised  it  shall  seek  the  hospitality 
of  its  shadow .?"  Any  man  saying  these  words  would  be  speaking 
no  poetry  except  the  highest,  which  is  fact  and  logic  on  fire,  the 
poetry  of  truth — that  that  which  is  divine,  simple,  useful,  beneficent, 
redeeming,  must  come  to  have  the  heathen  for  its  inheritance  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  its  possession.  If  you  are  a 
true  man  you  cannot  be  kept  down  in  the  long  run  ;  if  your 


2S8  MERITORIOUS  INVENTIONS. 

character  is  right,  it  will  in  due  time  assert  itself  and  claim  its  own. 
Men  may  proscribe  you,  condemn  you,  try  to  write  you  down,  try 
to  draw  your  clients,  customers,  patrons,  and  supporters  from  you, 
may  indulge  in  every  form  of  interference  and  unkind  suppression 
known  to  the  most  mischievous  genius,  and  yet  not  a  hair  of 
your  head  shall  perish  ;  no  weapon  formed  against  you  shall 
prosper.  Have  we  not  seen  this  illustrated  in  countless  instances 
— is  it  not  the  very  blossom  and  glory  of  human  history — is  it  not 
the  confidence  of  all  men  who  pray  and  wonder  that  the  answer  is 
long  in  coming  ?  So  far  therefore  the  parable  holds  its  own  in  purely 
human  and  social  conditions  ;  perhaps  it  may  also  hold  its  own  in 
relation  to  that  invisible,  impalpable,  immeasurable  kingdom  which 
we  have  come  to  know  by  the  sweet  name  of  heaven.  Let  us 
see. 

Take  the  mustard  seed  of  a  truly  meritorious  invention  :  go  even 
to  that  purely  materialistic  and  mechanical  side  of  life.  Is  it 
possible  to  keep  down  anything  that  is  really  Irue  in  mechanics  ? 
I  have  read  the  history  of  English  manufactures  to  little  purpose 
if  I  have  not  found  that  it  has  always  been  impossible  to  keep  out 
of  the  mill  and  the  factory  and  the  place  of  mechanical  operations 
any  invention  that  was  really  good  and  really  useful,  and  that 
completely  answered  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  put  forward. 
If  I  go  back  to  the  north  of  England  some  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty 
years  and  read  the  history  of  manufactures  there,  I  shall  find  that 
machinery  was  burnt,  that  factories  were  burnt  to  the  ground,  that 
workmen  were  proscribed,  that  masters  were  slandered,  and  that 
opposition  of  every  kind  was  offered  to  this  or  that  particular 
mechanical  invention.  The  working  classes  would  not  have  it, 
great  combinations  of  men  were  established  for  the  purpose  of  put- 
ting it  down  ;  but  where  is  it  to-day  ?  It  was  like  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard seed  ;  it  had  mechanical  truth,  it  had  commercial  reality  in 
it,  it  was  able  to  bless  the  very  people  that  cursed  it ;  and  so, 
under  the  Divine  Providence  that  takes  care  of  all  things  true  and 
pure  and  useful,  and  includes  them  all  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
we  have  seen  that  man's  opposition  has  been  turned  aside,  and 
that  true  things  have  grown  to  fulfil  their  purpose  ;  and  so  it 
must  be  to  the  end  of  time. 

We  see,  therefore,  that  there  are  illustrations  enough  of  the 
doctrine  that  truth  is  mighty  and  must  prevail.     You  cannot  per- 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31.  259 

manently  keep  down  whatever  is  true  in  doctrine,  in  manhood, 
in  science,  or  in  politics.  Water  cannot  drown  it,  fire  cannot  burn 
it,  contempt  cannot  discourage  it,  and  perdition  cannot  overcome 
it.  This  is  not  the  case,  you  see  then,  with  theology  alone.  A 
thing  is  true  to  me  because  it  is  true  to  my  whole  nature,  and  to 
the  whole  outlook  and  reality  of  life.  If  it  shall  come  and  separate 
itself  wholly  from  everything  known  to  my  consciousness  and  my 
experience,  it  will  bring  with  it  its  own  difficulty  which  may  prove 
to  be  insuperable  ;  but  if  it  connect  itself  with  all  that  I  know 
best  and  have  established  most  thoroughly  and  confidently,  then 
it  may  lead  me  on  step  by  step  to  its  own  higher  self  and  its  own 
broader  claim. 

It  is  thus  that  God  comes  to  us.  He  does  not  strike  upon  the 
intellect  like  a  great  thunder  blast  that  has  no  connection,  refer- 
ence, or  illustration  in  any  quarter  of  human  consciousness,  ex  • 
perience,  or  observation.  He  comes  to  establish  himself  in  my 
confidence  in  this  way,  namely — like  as  a  father  pitieth  his 
children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him.  As  a  nurse 
neurisheth  and  cherisheth  her  children,  so  the  Lord.  If  ye,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven,  give  the  Holy  Spirit 
unto  them  that  ask  him.  The  argument  is  cumulative  ;  it  begins 
in  the  human,  the  known,  that  which  is  fully  ascertained  and 
established,  and  then  it  proceeds  to  what  we  know  as  transcen- 
dental and  supernatural  heights  ;  but  we  trust  by  that  which  we 
do  know,  and  can  test  and  prove,  and  we  calmly,  lovingly  wait  the 
broader  revelation  ;  and  in  waiting  we  are  inspired  with  noble 
hope,  constrained  to  beneficent  service,  and  are  indulged  with 
ineffable  rewards. 

This  doctrine,  therefore,  is  as  true  of  medicine  as  it  is  of  divinity, 
of  mechanics  as  of  the  gospel,  of  navigation  as  of  theology. 
Sometimes  the  full  growth  is  long  delayed  ;  some  men  have  to  die 
as  the  price  of  their  appreciation  ;  some  inventions  and  reforms 
have  to  flee  into  Egypt  to  escape  the  wrath  of  some  angry  Herod. 
Still  the  sovereign  law  holds  good — that  truth,  in  all  departments 
of  life,  must  come  uppermost  and  sit  securely  on  its  appointed 
and  inevitable  throne.  Let  this  be  your  confidence,  men  and 
brethren.  If  it  be  your  confidence  you  can  wait  without  murmur- 
ing— you  ctui  tarry  without  complaining  ;  and   when   he  comes 


26o  THE  LA  W  OF  GRO  WTH. 

who  has  been  more  misunderstood  than  you  can  possibly  be,  he 
will  not  forget  his  servant  who  has  endeavoured  to  represent  in 
speech  and  life  that  which  he  has  felt  to  be  true. 

In  the  light  of  these  human,  social  illustrations,  let  us  see  how 
the  parable  fulfils  all  the  conditions  of  things  as  they  are  clearly 
known  by  us,  every  one.  First  of  all,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not 
ashamed  of  small  beginnings.  Herein  it  startles  me  very  much. 
I  should  have  thought  that  if  the  kingdom  of  heaven  were  coming 
amongst  men  it  would  have  made  for  itself  a  great  rent  in  the  sky, 
and  with  blast  of  trumpets  and  rollings  of  thunder  and  flashings 
of  lightning,  amid  the  pomp  of  heaven's  hierarchy  and  the  whole 
muster  of  its  angel  crowd,  it  would  have  come  down  to  the  earth 
and  dazzled  and  confounded  men  by  its  infinite  blaze  of  glory. 
God  does  not  so  come  :  he  is  not  ashamed  to  illustrate  his 
progress  by  the  development  of  small  and  relatively  contemptible 
things.  He  is  as  the  dawning  of  the  day,  he  is  as  the  growing  of 
the  mustard  seed  :  he  begins  in  a  whisper,  he  challenges  one  and 
then  another,  he  works  in  the  individual  heart,  setting  up  there  a 
good  conviction,  kindling  an  unquenchable  enthusiasm,  nourish- 
ing and  cherishing  a  holy  purpose — then  another  is  added  and  the 
plural  thus  begins,  and  the  two  go  forth  together  to  seek  a  third  ; 
and  thus  the  kingdom  grows,  friend  finding  friend,  the  evangelist 
finding  the  prodigal  and  bringing  him  home,  the  hopeful  soul 
speaking  the  word  of  cheer  to  the  dejected  spirit,  and  thus  the 
kingdom  grows. 

Be  rebuked  then,  O  impatient  man,  thou  who  dost  want,  with 
great  demonstration  and  force  of  arms,  to  impose  the  kingdom  ol 
heaven  upon  men.  Let  it  grow  according  to  its  own  law.  De- 
spise not  the  day  of  small  things.  A  little  one  may  become  a  great 
nation,  and  a  small  one  an  immeasurable  people.  Believe  in  the 
truth,  and  not  in  its  merely  numerical  and  demonstrative  force — 
have  faith  in  anything  that  is  true  and  good,  because  it  is  true  and 
good,  and  deliver  yourself  from  the  miserable  fallacy  and  most 
mischievous  sophism  that  a  crowd  is  necessary  to  success,  and 
that  multitudinousness  is  a  proof  of  truth  or  of  reality.  All  history 
condemns  such  violent  reading,  and  all  history  confirms  the  sub- 
lime teaching  that  whatever  is  true  may  have  a  small  beginning  ; 
but  it  must  overturn,  overturn,  overturn,  until  all  hindrances  are 


MATTHEW  XI 11.  31.  261 

levelled  with  the  dust.     Thus  and  thus  God's  kingdom  comes  and 
his  will  is  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 

In  the  next  place  the  kingdom  of  heaven  connects  itself  with 
the  greatest  law  known  amongst  us — namely,  the  law  of  growth. 
It  grows  in  the  individual  mind,  it  grows  in  the  national  mind,  it 
grows  from  alphabetical  forms  into  broader  substances  and  expres- 
sions, and  then  away  again  from  all  that  is  formal  and  mechanical 
up  into  the  purely  spiritual  regions  wherein  we  are  enabled  to  say, 
because  we  are  enabled  to  see,  that  God  is  a  Spirit. 

If  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  associated  with  the  law  of  growth, 
then  it  must  proceed  silently.  I  know  of  no  growths  that  are 
noisy  ;  the  great  oak  makes  no  noise  as  it  strengthens  itself  with 
the  growing  years.  So  is  it  with  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  it  grows 
silently  in  the  heart,  yet  men  take  knowledge  of  the  enriched  char- 
acter of  the  expanded  mind,  of  the  nobler  tone,  of  the  broader 
generosity  ;  and  they  say,  ' '  This  is  growth  in  grace. "  If  it  asso- 
ciates itself  with  growth,  then  the  progress  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  will  often  be  invisible  in  its  minuter  movements.  Whoever 
saw  a  flower  grow  from  this  point  to  that  whilst  waiting  and  look- 
ing on  .?  This  flower  has  nothing  to  show  for  any  one  moment  of 
its  existence  ;  the  flower  or  the  tree  is  not  to  be  reckoned  up  from 
day  to  day  :  leave  it  for  a  month,  leave  the  tree  for  a  year,  for 
ten  years,  and  then  return  and  remember  that  all  this  accretion 
has  been  going  on  without  a  single  created  eye  observing  the  in- 
crease. We  like  to  see  things  grow.  Sometimes  the  child  takes 
a  little  spade  and  digs  up  the  seed  to  see  if  it  has  begun  to  grow. 
Perhaps  we  have  all  done  this,  and  have  been  proud  to  see  how  the 
little  white  life,  or  green  life,  was  coming  up  out  of  the  seed  we 
sowed,  and  then  we  have  put  it  back  again  ;  and  again  we  have 
come  back  to  observe  the  growing,  and  yet  we  have  never  seen  the 
operation.  We  have  seen  the  results,  but  how  they  came  to  be 
results  is  a  mystery  to  us,  and  must  be  a  lesson. 

Ay,  the  mysteriousness  of  growth — who  can  understand  it,  who 
knows  how  much  goes  to  the  making  up  of  it — the  earth,  the  sun, 
the  rain,  the  dew,  the  light,  the  wind — what  chemical  elements  are 
set  in  motion,  thrown  into  combination  ;  what  ejections,  what  ab- 
sorptions, what  strange  and  subtle  combinations,  and  the  whole 
thing  moving  on  to  express  a  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  Creator .? 
It  hath  pleased  God  to  say,  whilst  we  are  looking  upon  all  the 


262  GROWTH  OF  GOD'S  KINGDOM. 

vegetable  kingdom,  "  My  heavenly  kingdom,  my  larger  kingdom, 
is  just  like  that — as  silent,  as  invisible,  as  mysterious,  as  certain, 
growing  up  to  the  full  expression  of  the  purpose  which  was  in  my 
heart  when  I  created  this  great  theatre  of  the  universe  and  sent 
man  into  it  to  fulfil  his  destiny." 

Another  thing  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  carries  its  greatness 
even  when  it  is  in  its  most  minute  and  microscopic  form.  The 
greatness  is  in  the  seed  itself  :  ii  we  had  instruments  fine  enough 
to  look  really  into  the  seed,  we  would  see  the  mustard  tree  in  the 
mustard  seed,  the  oak  in  the  acorn,  the  great  cedar  in  the  seed  out 
of  which  it  grows.  The  cedar,  the  oak,  any  other  tree  or  flower  is 
not  something  added  afterwards,  but  it  is  in  reality  in  the  root  or 
seed  which  is  in  the  earth.  We  are  prevented  seeing  it  simply 
because  of  our  want  of  natural  or  instrumental  vision.  So  it  is 
with  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Men  do  not  take  on  other  selves 
and  other  manhoods  as  they  advance  in  life,  but  they  fulfil  a  writ- 
ing and  a  destiny  in  themselves  not  only  from  the  moment  of  their 
birth,  but  through  eternity.  Nothing  happens  as  a  surprise,  noth- 
ing is  written  on  the  margin  of  the  divine  programme  as  an 
afterthought ;  everything  is  fore-appointed,  fore-ordained,  elect, 
standing  fast  in  the  counsel  of  God,  and  is  a  surprise  only  to  our 
weakness.  So  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  always  great  :  great 
when  you  are  teaching  it  in  the  Sunday-school  to  a  little  child, 
when  you  are  writing  about  it  on  the  blackboard,  when  you  are 
endeavouring  to  put  its  mysteries  into  words  of  one  syllable,  so  as 
to  lodge  the  truth  in  the  little  mind  of  the  little  hearer  ;  it  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  still,  compressed,  condensed,  simplified,  made 
easy,  but  carrying  in  it  all  the  force  that  shall  conquer  creation,  all 
the  mystery  that  shall  spread  itself  out  before  the  admiring  and 
grateful  gaze  of  men  as  the  revelation  of  God's  mercy  and  love 
and  grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  planet  is  in  the  molecule  ;  tell 
me  the  creation  was  made  out  of  the  molecule,  and  I  find  but  the 
broader  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  my  text  in  that  statement.  A 
molecule  will  do  to  begin  with,  but  what  a  molecule,  that  has 
grown  and  split  itself  off  into  constellations  and  suns  and  universes, 
and  which  astronomy  has  no  tape  long  enough  to  throw  round 
to  take  the  measure  of  the  circumference  thereof.  What  a  mustard 
seed  it  must  have  been  ! 

So  with  God's  kingdom  ;  it  will  grow  until  Christ  shall  have  the 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31.  263 


heathen  for  his  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  his  possession,  and  the  handful  of  corn  upon  the  top  of  the 
mountain  shall  grow  until  the  harvest,  waving  in  the  south  wind, 
goldened  by  all  the  suns  of  the  universe,  shall  proclaim  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  divine  purpose,  and  angels  shall  gather  it  and  sing  the 
harvest  home. 

The  last  confirmatory  point  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
available  for  oiher  uses  than  those  which  are  sometimes  thought  to 
be  distinctively  religious — as  with  the  mustard  seed  grown  into  a 
tree,  the  birds  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  of  it ;  did  the  tree 
grow  for  the  sake  of  the  birds,  or  did  the  birds  avail  themselves  of 
the  hospitality  of  the  tree  ?  It  is  even  so  with  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  whatever  is  true  has  a  right  to  be  in  the  Church,  all  art 
and  science,  all  commerce  and  literature,  all  recreation  and  joy — 
do  not  banish  these  sacred  birds  from  the  branches  of  the  Church 
tree,  for  they  all  are  God's,  and  if  they  do  not  receive  hospitality  in 
the  Church,  they  will  find  it  elsewhere,  and  the  Church  will  be 
the  loser  in  the  long  run. 

Take  the  broadest  view  of  the  Church  ;  it  should  offer  hospi- 
tality to  all  the  birds  of  the  air,  to  all  creatures  that  need  lodgment 
and  help,  defence,  education,  strength — it  should  throw  itself  out 
in  loving  and  mighty  appeal  in  every  direction  and  offer  the  hos- 
pitality of  heaven  to  all  the  children  of  earth.  Open  your  churches 
for  music,  open  your  pulpits  for  lectures,  open  your  schoolrooms 
for  amusements,  open  all  your  premises  that  you  may  spread  a 
meal  for  the  hungry  and  offer  rest  to  the  weary,  and  by-and-by 
men  and  women  will  say,  "  Where  are  we .''  This  is  a  wondrous 
song,  this  is  inspiring  music,  this  is  bread  truly  useful  for  us  in  the 
hunger  of  life — wnere  are  we .?  What  is  this  building .?  there  is 
something  strange  about  it.  What  is  that  in  which  the  man  stands 
and  from  which  he  speaks — and  what  are  those  seats,  and  those 
books  lying  here  and  there  V '  and  it  may  come  to  dawn  upon 
them  that  they  are  in  their  Father's  house,  and  they  who  came  to 
hear  the  entertainment,  or  be  fascinated  for  a  moment  by  some 
transient  enjoyment,  may  remain  to  pray.  Do  not  drive  the  birds 
away,  do  not  starve  the  birds  :  the  Church  was  not  distinctively 
built  for  any  of  these  outward  or  collateral  purposes,  but  as  the 
birds  of  the  air  came  and  lodged  in  the  full-grown  mustard  tree, 


264  THE  CONSUMMATION  REALIZED. 

so  may  many  birds,  and  men,  and  women,  and  little  children,  and 
outcasts,  hopeless  and  heartless  ones,  come  and  find  it  warm  in 
the  Church  and  be  drawn  by  its  glow  of  charity  still  further,  until 
at  last  they  enter  the  sanctuary  of  its  truth. 

I  am  tha  nkf ul  for  this  suggestion  of  growth :  it  does  not  affright 
me,  it  gives  me  the  true  law  of  judgment  ;  night  and  day  the  king- 
dom grows,  it  makes  no  noise,  it  resorts  to  no  violence,  but  quietly 
and  sublimely  and  solemnly  it  comes  to  the  perfectness  and  gran- 
deur of  God's  purpose.  Sometimes  when  we  awake  to  an  appre- 
ciation of  summer  growth  we  say,  * '  The  flowers,  the  trees,  seem  to 
have  come  out  in  the  night  time  :  what  a  change  !  how  sudden  !" 
Mayhap  it  will  be  thus  with  Messiah's  kingdom.  To-day  Herod 
is  on  the  throne,  to-day  the  sword  is  slaying  the  innocent,  to-day 
he  who  is  born  Christ  the  King  is  taken  away  to  Egypt,  the  upper 
hand  seems  to  have  been  given  to  those  who  devise  evil  purposes 
and  carry  out  mischievous  intentions — but  still  the  kingdom  moves, 
still  the  seed  develops,  still  the  growth  expands  ;  some  day  it 
may  appear  to  us  as  if  quite  suddenly  the  consummation  had 
been  realised,  and  we  shall  say  to  one  another,  "  This  is  none 
other  than  God' s  kingdom  come,  and  the  earth  has  been  warmed 
by  the  summer  of  heaven." 

To  that  end  let  us  work,  and  let  us,  from  that  purpose,  gather 
courage  to  speak  the  broader,  bolder  prayer  at  the  throne  of  the 
heavenly  grace. 


LV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  dost  send  the  years  upon  us  as  thou  wilt — some- 
times in  darkness  and  in  storm,  sometimes  with  bitter  cold,  oftentimes 
with  many  a  patch  of  blue  in  the  winter  sky,  to  tell  us  of  the  days  that 
are  about  to  brighten,  and  the  summer  that  is  preparing  to  come.  Send 
the  years  of  our  life  upon  us  as  thou  wilt,  only  come  thou  with  every  one 
of  them,  and  make  each  as  a  step  nearer  thy  sweet  home. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  the  lovingkindness  and  tender  mercy  of  the  year 
now  for  ever  gone.  We  take  this  new  year  from  thine  hand  as  a  page 
unwritten  upon,  yet  without  line,  or  blot,  or  stain.  Help  us  to  write  our 
life  story  upon  it  with  a  steady  hand,  and  may  the  whole  inscription 
bring  glory  and  praise  to  thy  name  as  the  Inspirer  and  the  Director  of 
our  lives,  to  whom  we  owe  all  we  are  and  all  we  have,  and  in  whose 
power  and  wisdom  alone  can  we  hope  to  stand.  We  know  not  what  is 
coming,  we  cannot  tell  what  shall  be  done  this  year  :  it  strikes  another 
bell  in  the  air — O  that  we  may  hear  the  warning  tone  and  answer  it  with 
a  deeper  love  and  a  steadier  industry,  a  completer  consecration  and  a 
nobler  and  more  ardent  hope.  The  days  of  our  years  are  threescore 
years  and  ten  ;  behold  while  we  are  reckoning  them  they  fly  away,  and 
whilst  we  sigh  for  the  smallness  of  the  number  it  dwindles  as  we  mourn. 
Are  there  not  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  Help  us  to  work  steadily  every 
one  of  them,  may  we  know  the  blessedness  of  that  servant  who  shall  be 
found  waiting  or  watching  or  working  when  his  Lord  comes — then  shall 
his  Lord  bring  heaven  with  him  and  toil  shall  become  rest.  Teach  us  so 
to  number  our  days  as  to  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom  ;  may  we  be 
good  reckoners  of  time,  may  we  buy  up  the  opportunity  with  the  urgency 
of  men  who  have  but  a  little  time  to  stay  and  much  work  to  do  within 
the  dying  period. 

Bless  us  all  at  home,  make  our  houses  resting-places  of  security, 
spread  our  table,  and  when  our  afflictions  come  upon  us,  make  thou  our 
bed  ;  send  the  light  to  awaken  us,  cause  the  darkness  to  be  as  a  curtain 
round  about  us,  in  our  outgoing  and  in  our  incoming  be  thou  our  light 
and  our  defence. 

Thou  hast  done  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are  glad.  Continue  to 
multiply  thy  miracles  in  our  life,  and  may  new  mercies  elicit  new  songs. 
Be  with  us  in  the  market-place,  in  the  whole  strife  and  battle  and  contest 
of  life,  give  us  honourable  purpose,  pure  motive,  noble  design — may  we 


266  PRA  YER. 

all  lay  up  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  do  corrupt, 
and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal.  Prepare  us  for  life, 
and  thus  prepare  us  for  death  :  enable  us  to  do  our  work  well,  then  shall 
our  rest  be  well  earned  and  our  peace  shall  be  complete.  Amid  all  the 
tumult  and  violence,  the  pain  and  the  distress,  the  illusion  and  the  ambi- 
tion and  disappointment  and  gratification  of  life,  lift  thou  up  above  us, 
and  above  all  that  is  round  about  us,  the  great  cross  of  the  dying  Lamb 
of  God  :  may  it  be  the  badge  of  our  trust  and  of  our  love,  the  source  of 
our  hope  and  the  spring  of  our  inspiration,  the  answer  to  our  dreadful 
guilt,  the  complete  deliverance  of  our  sou)  from  its  worst  captivity.  May 
the  power  of  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  reveal  itself  in  the  inner- 
most places  of  our  heart  and  mind. 

Regard  us  one  and  all  as  we  are  now  bowing  before  thee,  heads  of 
houses,  husbands  and  wives,  fathers,  mothers,  children,  masters,  servants, 
employers,  employed,  rich,  poor,  those  who  have  many  joys,  and  those 
whose  last  candle  is  dying  out — the  Lord  look  upon  us  all  as  one  in  the 
Son  of  Man,  united  by  indissoluble  and  indestructible  bonds  to  one 
another  by  the  Son  of  God.  Spare  not  the  bestowal  of  thy  blessing,  but 
let  every  one  have  a  portion  of  meat  in  due  season,  let  every  head  be 
lifted  up  in  new  exaltation  and  in  new  hope. 

Go  out  with  every  honest  man  who  endeavours  to  speak  thy  word  and 
extend  thy  kingdom,  who  prays  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  who  carries 
light  into  dark  houses,  and  stealthily  leaves  bread  for  the  hunger  of 
those  who  are  destitute  ;  bless  the  hand  that  works  invisibly,  that  is 
always  open  to  give,  and  that  never  willingly  receives  except  to  return  in 
new  benedictions,  and  the  Lord  comfort  such  and  multiply  their  joys  and 
their  comforts,  and  be  round  about  them  as  a  great  Presence. 

Look  upon  those  who  have  new  songs  to  sing  this  morning  because  of 
household  joy  :  the  Lord  grant  a  blessing  unto  those  who  sing  such 
songs,  that  their  whole  life  may  be  musical  with  thy  praise,  Regard 
those  whose  last  association  has  been  with  the  grave,  whose  feet  are  yet 
wet  because  of  their  standing  by  the  open  tomb,  hearts  in  which  there  is 
sorrow,  eyes  in  which  the  tears  are  standing  thick  and  hot — the  Lord 
speak  comfortably  unto  such  of  the  Resurrection  and  of  the  Life.  Hear 
the  mother's  sigh  for  her  erring  boy,  her  prodigal  wandering  one,  whom 
she  received  from  thee  with  delight  and  whose  life  is  now  to  her  the  very 
mystery  of  pain. 

The  Lord  look  upon  all  to  whom  this  will  be  an  eventful  year  ;  prepare 
us  all  to  receive  thy  blessing,  may  we  hold  our  joys  with  a  trembling 
hand,  may  we  yield  our  fears  to  thy  keeping,  thou  mighty  Saviour  of  the 
race.  Help  us  to  forgive  one  another  ;  may  this  day  be  a  day  of  forgive- 
ness and  amnesty  ;  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any,  may  that  con- 
test cease  on  this  holy  day. 

May  we  now,  humbly,  modestly,  lovingly  give  ourselves  again  into 
thine  hand,  to  be  defended,  instructed,  directed  as  thou  wilt,  and  so  may 
thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.     Amen. 


MATTHEW  XIII .  44-46.  267 


Matthew  xiii.  44-46. 

44.  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field  ; 
the  which  when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth,  and  for  joy  thereof  goeth 
and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field. 

45.  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  merchant  man,  seek- 
ing goodly  pearls  : 

46.  Who,  when  he  had  found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  went  and  sold 
all  that  he  had,  and  bought  it. 

TREASURE  AND  PEARLS. 

THESE  parables  may  be  taken  together,  as  expressing  two 
sides  of  the  same  truth.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field."  There  were  no  banks  in 
ancient  times,  such  as  we  have  now,  and  therefore  persons 
possessed  of  property  of  a  valuable  kind  were  wont  to  hide  it  in 
fields  and  in  out-of-the-way  places.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  man 
who  comes  upon  joy  unexpectedly.  He  was  not  looking  for 
treasure,  but  in  digging  his  field  he  came  upon  it  without  antici- 
pation, and  therefore  his  joy  was  the  greater.  How  far  and  in 
what  sense  do  these  parables  correspond*  with  what  we  know  of 
life  generally  ?  Can  we  not  confirm  the  doctrine  that  the  joys  of 
surprise  are  amongst  the  keenest  of  our  delights  }  The  joys  that 
we  anticipate  are  often  dulled  by  the  fact  that  we  have  discounted 
them  :  we  knew  that  they  were  coming,  we  had  often  talked  about 
them,  imagination  had  set  them  in  false  lights  and  in  preposterous 
relations,  so  that  when  they  really  did  come  they  were  less  than 
our  expectancy,  and  so  they  became  disappointments  rather  than 
pleasures. 

Understand,  then,  the  place  of  surprise  in  the  divine  economy. 
We  are  to  come  upon  things  unexpectedly,  we  are  not  to  wear 
them  out  before  we  handle  them,  their  presence  and  their  use  and 
their  value  come  to  us  instantaneously,  and  because  we  knew 
nothing  about  them  our  joy  is  the  greater.  If  you  expect  your 
friend  to  leave  you  a  large  estate,  and  he  leaves  you  something 
less  than  you  had  anticipated,  the  property  actually  brings  dis- 
satisfaction with  it ;  but  if  you  expected  nothing,  and  he  left  you 
one  green  field,  the  bequest  would  occasion  great  joy  in  your 
heart,  nor  altogether  because  of  the  value  of  the  bequest,    but 


268  THE  SEARCH  FOR  LIFE'S  TREASURES. 

because  it  came  upon  you  without  the  slightest  hint  or  expecta- 
tion. 

Now  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field  : 
it  is  a  continual  surprise.  God  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abun- 
dantly above  all  that  we  ask  or  think.  Herein  is  our  expectation 
itself  foiled.  We  cannot  raise  our  expectancy  to  the  height  of 
this  heaven,  but  expectation  is  not  forbidden  herein  in  consequence 
of  that  solemn  and  glad  fact.  We  dream  of  heaven,  and  talk  of 
it,  and  set  our  poets  to  work  to  strike  their  harps  to  sweeter  and 
higher  strains  and  tones,  because,  when  we  have  formed  our  own 
heaven  in  the  innermost  and  highest  places  of  our  fancy,  it  falls 
short  of  the  reality  only  by  infinity. 

This  is  the  testimony  of  every  student  of  the  Bible.  Every 
page  is  a  field  in  which  there  is  hidden  treasure — so  say  the  men 
who  have  toiled  longest  in  those  holy  fields.  They  are  the  men 
who  are  entitled  to  testify  :  such  men  are  filled  with  amazement, 
new  light  startles  them,  unheard  music  holds  their  soul  in  glad 
enthralment,  presences  rise  before  them  and  angels  wrestle  with 
them  in  power  that  is  meant  not  to  destroy  but  to  save  and  to 
bless,  so  that  the  old  man  in  closing  his  Bible  says,  ' '  The  last 
vision  was  the  brightest,  the  last  song  was  the  sweetest ;"  says  he, 
"  I  never  knew  what  this  Bible  was  until  now.  All  the  old  pas- 
sages glow  with  a  new  meaning,  all  the  sweet  and  sacred  promises 
come  with  a  deeper  significance  and  a  more  ineffable  sweetness. 

Are  wfe  able  to  follow  this  testimony,  or  is  the  Bible  to  us  an 
exhausted  book  ?  It  is  an  exhausted  book  only  to  the  man  who 
has  never  begun  it.  I  desire  to  add  my  humble  testimony  to  the 
deeper  and  bolder  witness  of  men  who  are  more  qualified  to 
attest,  that  every  time  I  open  the  Bible  it  is  as  a  field  in  which  I 
find  hidden  treasure,  and  every  time  I  conclude  my  exposition  of 
any  portion  of  holy  Scripture  I  find  I  have  not  even  begun  to 
touch  its  infinite  meaning.  So  far,  therefore,  I  feel  no  difficulty 
whatever  in  accepting  the  doctrine  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field. 

Now,  in  the  next  place,  can  we  confirm  the  doctrine  that  life  is 
a  search  for  goodly  pearls  ?  Every  man  is  at  home  in  this  truth. 
Examine  yourselves,  and  you  will  find  that  your  innermost  motive 
is  to  find  the  goodliest  pearl.     In  business,  in  thinking,  in  litera- 


MATTHEW  XIII .  44-46.  269 

ture,  in  preaching,  in  art,  in  music,  everywhere — this  is  the  inner- 
most truth,  that  we  are  seeking  for  pearls  of  the  greatest  worth, 
"  Who  will  show  us  any  good  ?"  is  the  cry  of  the  anxious  human 
heart.  So,  get  what  pearls  you  may  upon  the  earth,  there  is 
always  another  Pearl  beyond,  larger,  of  a  richer  hue,  of  a  higher 
value,  and  it  is  towards  that  that  you  stretch  out  your  desire  and 
your  hand.  Now  this  is  the  very  motive,  purpose,  and  ambition 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  came  to  satisfy.  Without  this  desire 
it  would  not  have  anything  to  lay  hold  upon.  Here  is  the  secret, 
mighty  hold  which  Christian  truth  gets  upon  mankind  :  it  addresses 
itself  immediately  and  profoundly  to  the  supreme  desire  of  the 
heart.  As  light  is  adapted  to  the  eye,  as  sound  is  adapted  to  the 
ear,  as  substance  appeals  to  the  touch,  so  this  kingdom  of  heaven 
appeals  to  our  highest  sense,  our  spiritual  necessity  and  receptivity. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  something  let  down  out  of  the 
skies,  that  has  to  be  carried  as  a  weight  upon  our  head,  for  which 
we  can  give  no  reason,  and  of  which  we  have  no  explanation  ;  it 
is  an  appeal  to  something  that  is  in  us,  it  answers  an  interior 
voice,  it  offers  to  meet  a  felt  necessity.  Again  examine  yourselves 
and  tell  me  if  you  are  not  seeking  for  goodly  pearls.  You  want 
it  in  money,  another  man  wants  it  in  love  ;  another  man  seeks  for 
it  in  some  larger  definition  of  the  term  life;  a  fourth  man  seeks 
for  it  in  books,  a  fifth  in  painting  or  in  music,  but  every  man  here 
on  this  opening  Sabbath  of  the  year  is  seeking  goodly  pearls. 

So  I  have  no  difficulty  in  accepting  the  parable  when  it  says 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  merchantman  seeking 
goodly  pearls,  not  inferior  ones,  but  the  very  best  that  could  be 
found.  This  merchantman  goes  out  over  sea  and  land  to  find 
goodly  pearls.  It  is  recorded  that  the  great  Caesar  was  drawn  to 
the  shores  of  Britain  because  of  the  pearls  that  were  cast  upon 
them  by  the  flowing  tide.  We  too,  little  Caesars,  soldiers,  ex- 
plorers, conquerors,  have  our  eyes  upon  those  seas  that  cast  out  of 
their  depths  the  richest  treasures.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  comes 
to  us,  and  says,  "  In  me  you  will  find  the  goodliest  pearls. ' ' 

In  the  third  place,  can  we  not  confirm  the  doctrine  that  there 
are  prizes  for  which  one  would  sacrifice  all  secondary  enjoyments  P 
The  merchantman,  when  he  had  found  one  pearl  of  great  price, 
went  and  sold  all  that  he  had  and  bought  it :  has  that  any  corre- 


270  LITTLE  SURRENDERED  FOR  MUCH. 

spondence  in  our  lives  ?  Here  is  a  student  who  has  fixed  his 
ambition  upon  certain  honours  ;  he  gives  up  all  ease,  indulgence, 
quietness,  and  as  much  sleep  as  possible  that  he  may  lay  his  hand 
upon  the  supreme  honour  and  be  its  happy  owner  evermore.  You 
have  talked  to  book  collectors  who  have  pointed  out  some  one 
book  for  which  they  have  given  fifty  other  books.  Being  poor 
men  in  the  matter  of  mere  money,  they  gathered  together  books 
of  inferior  value,  at  least  of  inferior  value  in  their  own  estimation, 
and  they  said  to  the  possessor  of  the  coveted  treasure,  "  You 
shall  have  all  the  fifty  for  that  one."  We  all  have  known  men 
who  have  coveted  some  particular  picture,  and  they  have  taken 
down  all  the  other  pictures  on  their  walls  and  have  said,  "  They 
shall  all  go  if  I  can  only  get  that  piece  of  painting."  So  that  we 
have  experiences  of  this  kind  in  our  lives,  and  this  is  the  very 
spring  and  force  of  life  by  which -we  always  aim  at  that  which  is 
beyond.  It  is  the  beyond  that  allures  us  ;  it  is  the  unattained  that 
draws  us  by  mighty  spell  and  fascination  onward  and  onward  in 
our  life  course. 

It  is  so  with  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  ' '  Yea,  doubtless, ' '  saith 
Paul,  ' '  and  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus,  my  Lord.  What  things  were  gain  to 
me,  those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ. "  So  he  would  have  sold  his 
ancestry,  his  pedigree,  all  that  made  him  proud  of  the  past,  and 
would  count  it  but  as  dung  that  he  might  win  Christ.  What  is 
this  but  giving  the  very  highest  application  to  a  principle  which 
you  have  already  affirmed  in  study,  in  the  collection  of  books,  and 
in  the  collection  of  works  of  art .?  And  other  men  have  sold  all 
they  had  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of 
lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword  ; 
others  had  trials  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  more- 
over of  bonds  and  imprisonment ;  they  were  stoned,  they  were 
sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword.  They 
wandered  about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins,  being  destitute, 
afflicted,  tormented — for  what  object.?  That  they  might  win 
Christ,  that  they  might  have  the  pearl  of  great  price  as  their 
supreme  treasure.  In  doing  so  they  are  not  acting  the  part  of 
foolish  men.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  merchantman. 
You  believe  in  the  common-sense,   in  the  energy,  the  prudence 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44-46.  271 

and  the  shrewdness  of  merchantmen  ;  you  glory  in  the  strength  of 
character  and  the  sagacity  of  mind  developed  by  business  ;  this 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  ashamed  to  say  that  it  is  like  the  best 
business  man  you  have  amongst  you,  with  an  eye  as  keen,  with 
an  ardour  as  intense,  with  a  shrewdness  as  far-seeing  as  his,  and 
having  exhausted  him,  it  multiplies  itself  by  infinity. 

This  testimony,  therefore,  ought  to  come  to  you  men  of  business 
with  great  force.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  like  unto  a 
dreamer  only,  like  unto  a  Q.12.ZJ  poet,  who  makes  jingling  rhymes — 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  merchantman  who  keeps  his 
books,  and  lays  his  plans,  and  awakens  his  wit,  and  belabours  his 
energy,  and  inspires  his  enthusiasm  by  daily  conquest  in  daily  toil. 
Wondrous  kingdom  :  it  will  join  any  man  in  his  daily  toil,  and  say 
to  him,  in  so  far  as  he  is  a  wise  and  honest  workman,  "  I  am  just 
like  you."  It  does  not  merely  go  into  the  studies  of  the  artist, 
into  the  sanctum  of  the  recluse,  into  the  hermitage  of  the  monk, 
into  the  high  nest  of  the  poet  who  loves  to  dwell  in  solitude,  and 
say,  "  I  am  just  like  you,  great  men  of  imagination  and  of  artistic 
sensibility  and  power,"  but  it  also  comes  down  to  the  day  labourer, 
and  says,  "  This  is  what  I  do  :  I  dig."  It  goes  to  the  navigator, 
and  says,  "  This  is  what  I  do  :  I  have  countless  ships,  and  my 
meaning  is  to  touch  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  with  my 
beneficence  and  my  light."  It  goes  to  the  carpenter  at  the  bench, 
and  says,  "I  am  just  like  you,  I  work  all  day  and  I  work  for  a 
reward,  a  great  prize."  So  here  is  a  kingdom  called  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  that  identifies  itself  with  the  business  life  of  the  land, 
and  that  reveals  one  shape  of  its  supreme  beauty  through  business, 
through  merchandise. 

While  the  kingdom  of  heaven  so  inspires  a  man  as  to  lead  him 
to  throw  off  every  fascination  and  inducement  of  a  worldly  kind, 
and  to  give  himself  wholly  and  absolutely  to  its  worship  and  further 
pursuit,  it  may  be  said  that  all  religions  have  this  effect  upon  the 
human  mind,  which  is  only  a  proof  that  the  strongest  force  which 
operates  upon  human  intelligence,  human  inspiration,  and  human 
ambition  is  the  religious  force.  Wherein,  then,  is  the  difference 
between  the  Christian  kingdom  and  those  other  kingdoms  of  a 
religious  kind  which  are-  not  acknowledged  by  Christian  theology  ? 
All  religions  compel  devotion,  all  religions  compel  more  or  less  of 


272  CBAVST'S  RELIGION  SOVEREIGN. 


sacrifice — wherein,  then,  is  the  difference  between  them  and  this 
Christian  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  I  will  tell  you.  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  competition  with  all  the  sovereign  religions  of  the  world  ;  no 
religion  of  a  sovereign  and  absolutely  original  kind  has  ventured 
to  show  its  head  since  Jesus  Christ  was  born.  Let  me  give  you 
time  to  lay  hold  of  that  suggestion  ;  no  great  religion  of  this  kind 
has  been  set  up  in  the  world  since  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Judaism  is  a  great  religion,  but  it  has  not  come  into  existence 
during  the  last  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty  years.  Buddhism, 
Confucianism,  are  great  religions,  but  each  of  them  is  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighty  years  of  age,  a  fact  which  throws  into 
infinite  significance  the  comparison  which  Christianity  institutes, 
by  which  it  claims  to  be  "  the  pearl  of  great  price, ' '  the  one  pearl 
which  lowers  the  value  of  every  other,  and  which  trusts  to  its  intrin- 
sic value  to  save  it  from  all  competition,  and  to  ensure  its  ultimate 
and  universal  appreciation. 

It  is  something  to  remember  that  since  the  child  was  born  in 
Bethlehem  no  great  or  sovereign  religion  (with  the  doubtful  excep- 
tion of  Mohammedanism)  has  established  itself  upon  the  earth. 
Here  we  come  upon  historical  ground,  and  are  able  to  fight  with 
the  invincible  weapon  of  fact.  What  independent  religion,  right 
or  wrong,  has  arisen  since  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ .?  What  man 
has  arisen  of  such  boldness  of  conception,  grandeur  of  character, 
purity  and  sublimity  of  purpose  and  originality  of  mind  as  to  rival 
or  eclipse  the  man  of  Nazareth }  Negative  religions  enough,  if 
they  might  be  called  religions,  denials  and  criticisms  in  abun- 
dance, which  owe  their  temporary  life  to  the  very  character  which 
they  assail — but  no  man  can  worship  in  the  temple  of  doubt,  no 
man  can  broadly,  deeply,  and  permanently  influence  the  world 
who  has  nothing  to  suggest  but  a  negation;  negatives  can  never 
ascend  the  highest  seat  and  rule  with  dominating  and  beneficent 
supremacy.  Where  is  the  majestic  personality,  the  profound 
philosophy,  the  heroic  sacrifice,  and  the  valiant  propagandism  of 
a  new  faith  that  claims  the  sovereignty  of  the  world  .?  I  do  not 
include  perversions  and  corruptions  so  foul  and  obvious  as  are 
found  in  Mohammedanism  ;  I  ask  for  an  independent,  original, 
and  sovereign  competitor.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto 
a  pearl  of  great  price  ;  it  holds  itself  up  as  such,  and  asks  for  all 
the  other  pearls  to  be  brought  that  they  may  be  contrasted  with 
its  ineffable  preciousness.     No  competing  faith  has  been  suggested 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44-46.  273 

with  such  breadth  of  suggestion  as  to  get  more  than  a  moment' s 
Hfe  in  the  estimation  of  mankind,  and  no  such  faith  has  embodied 
itself  in  any  leader  that  the  world  has  cared  to  arrest  and  crucify. 

A  great  argument  takes  its  inception  here.  Men  have  looked 
for  another  than  Christ,  and  no  other  has  come  with  a  single  tittle 
of  claim  that  could  bear  one  moment' s  examination.  Negations 
have  no  missions,  no  adventures,  no  audacities  of  a  beneficent 
kind  ;  they  only  live  spasmodically  and  temporarily,  they  do  not 
live  in  themselves  and  by  themselves,  of  their  own  divinely  created 
force.  This  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  knocks  at  every  door,  it  thunders 
upon  the  door  of  India  and  China,  and  sends  its  ship  in  full  sail 
to  the  islands  of  the  sea,  and  the  cry  is,  "  I  am  a  merchantman 
who  has  found  a  pearl  of  great  price  ;  examine  it,  test  it,  receive 
it — but  in  doing  so  all  other  pearls  must  be  given  up.  If  any 
man  will  be  my  disciple,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his 
cross  daily  and  follow  me.  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more 
than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me.  Go,  sell  all  thou  hast  and  give  to 
the  poor,  and  come  and  follow  me.  Strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow 
is  the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life."  What  are  all  these  quotations 
and  references  but  so  many  expansions  of  the  great  doctrine  of 
this  text  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  merchantman,  who, 
having  seen  a  pearl  more  valuable  and  precious  than  all  others, 
surrenders  the  life-gathered  store  that  he  may  possess  himself  of 
this  most  precious  of  all  pearls  1 

Where  is  your  competing  pearl,  where  is  your  competing  Christ, 
where  is  your  nobler  love  or  your  grander  purpose  }  The  air  is 
troubled  with  doubts,  the  night  is  thick  with  scepticism,  the  Church 
is  annoyed  now  and  again  with  the  arrow  and  the  pestilence  of 
ardent  foes,  but  since  the  star  glittered  on  Bethlehem  no  man 
has  arisen  to  claim  the  heathen  for  an  inheritance  and  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  a  possession.  Christianity  makes  this 
supreme  claim  to  us  every  one  this  morning  ;  it  asks  us  to  lay  our 
little  pearls  beside  it,  that  it  may  show  by  self-revelation  how  little 
they  are  and  poor  compared  with  its  magnitude,  its  quality,  and 
its  lustre.  Christianity  is  a  comparative  religion,  a  competitive 
faith  ;  it  asks  to  be  looked  at  in  the  light  of  all  that  has  gone 
before  it,  and  a  religion  which  comes  before  me  with  a  claim  so 
broad,  so  substantial,  so  manifestly  profound  in  its  common  sense 
arrests  my  thoughts  and  demands  my  confidence. 


LVI. 

A  DOUBLE  ASPECT  OF  THE  KINGDOM. 

Matthew  xiii.  33,  47-50. 

33.  Another  parable  spake  he  unto  them  :  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  leaven  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened. 

47.  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net,  that  was  cast  into 
the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every  kind. 

48.  Which,  when  it  was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and  sat  down,  and 
gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad  away. 

49.  So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world  :  the  angels  shall  come  forth, 
and  sever  the  wicked* from  among  the  just. 

50.  And  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire  :  there  shall  be  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

LET  me  try  to  reveal  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to-day  under 
two  aspects.  It  has  already  come  before  us  under  the  image 
of  the  sower,  the  parable  of  the  tares,  the  grain  of  mustard  seed, 
the  treasure  hid  in  a  field,  the  pearl  of  great  price — by  this  time 
surely  we  ought  to  be  well  acquainted  with  this  kingdom  of  heaven, 
yet  it  is  the  eternal  mystery  as  surely  as  it  is  the  eternal  revelation. 
Jesus  Christ  now  gives  us  two  more  opportunities  of  knowing  still 
more  clearly  what  his  great  kingdom  is.  He  condescends  to  paint 
two  more  pictures,  a  woman  hiding  leaven  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  and  a  ma,n  casting  a  net  into  the  sea. 

"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven  which  a  woman 
took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leav- 
ened. ' '  It  follows  then  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  like  all  other 
truth,  is  penetrating  in  its  influence.  It  goes  forward  to  its  work 
little  by  little  :  it  never  rests — it  cannot  rest  until  it  has  covered 
the  whole  space  of  its  opportunity.  It  can  never  give  in — all 
things  must  go  down  before  it,  not  violently,  but  certainly.  No 
great  or  true  idea  can  be  in  the  human  mind  without  penetrating 


MATTHEW  XIII.  ZZ.  275 

that  mind  through  and  through,  and  passing  on  to  other  minds 
and  completing  the  same  subduing  process  there. 

Not  only  is  it  penetrating,  but  it  is  gradual  in  its  process  and 
advancement.  Great  ideas  do  not  seize  the  mind  all  at  once  and 
rule  it  with  undisputed  domination.  One  by  one,  little  by  little,  a 
man  here  and  a  man  there — such  is  the  rule  of  this  gradualness. 
But  it  never  goes  back,  though  appearances  may  seem  sometimes 
to  indicate  the  contrary.  The  movement  of  truth  is  always  forward. 
The  truth  was  never  so  fully,  broadly,  and  benignly  established  in 
the  human  mind  as  it  is  this.  day.  You  can  quote  a  thousand 
instances  to  indicate  the  badness  of  the  race,  its  love  of  error  and 
its  pursuit  of  corruption,  and  every  instance  that  is  quoted  may  be 
perfectly  right,  within  its  own  limits.  Nevertheless  the  kingdom 
moves,  the  penetrating  influence  gradually  asserts  itself.  How 
long  will  it  continue  to  assert  itself }  Till  the  whole  is  leavened. 
The  time  is  fixed  in  the  parable,  the  date  is  here  marked  down  in 
plain  figures,  if  we  have  eyes  to  read  it.  This  is  a  dated  promise, 
and  the  date  is  ' '  till  the  whole  is  leavened. 

Have  we  any  parallels  in  our  own  life  that  will,  enable  us  to 
seize,  more  completely,  the  gracious  and  generous  meaning  of  this 
parable  }  We  have  a  parallel,  certainly,  in  the  education  of  the 
mind.  No  mind  is  educated  in  one  day  :  education  is  not  some- 
thing thrust  upon  a  man  which  he  can  seize  in  a  moment  and 
make  his  own  without  a  long  transaction.  You  cannot  tell  how 
you  were  educated  :  there  is  no  specific  day  in  our  human  life 
upon  which  we  can  say  we  were  then  educated,  in  any  complete 
or  final  sense  of  the  term.  We  may  have  vivid  memories  of 
certain  days,  but  education  is  not  a  day's  work,  it  is  not  a  time 
work,  it  is  an  eternal  process.  How  the  light  came  upon  the 
mind,  how  the  new  idea  seemed  to  strike  us  with  instancy 
and  startling  suddenness — yet  when  we  came  carefully  to  look 
into  it  we  found  that  it  was  the  culminating  point  of  a  long 
process,  and  that  but  for  the  process  the  culmination  never  could 
have  supervened.  Watch  your  child's  progress  in  letters,  and  it 
will  be  impossible  for  you  to  indicate  any  time  at  which  he 
became  a  scholar.  Jesus  Christ  says,  "Just  the  same  in  my 
kingdom  :  it  is  not  one  sermon,  one  book,  one  act  of  prayer,  but 
the  repetition  of  many  a  process  through  the  whole  space  of  the 
lifetime.     It   is   not  one  shower  that   makes  the  summer,  it  is 


276  FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER. 

shower  upon  shower,  baptism  following  baptism  in  gracious  inter- 
mission and  yet  in  gracious  persistency. "      It  is  thus  we  grow. 

We  have  a  parallel  not  only  in  education,  but  in  the  deepening 
and  ripening  of  all  great  convictions.  If  you  will  search  into  the 
history  of  your  mind,  you  will  find  that  some  of  your  convictions 
have  taken  a  long  time  to  form  :  there  were  prejudices  to  be 
overcome,  there  were  defects  to  be  made  up,  there  was  informa- 
tion to  be  gained,  there  were  experiments  to  be  conducted — for  a 
long  time  you  wondered  and  hesitated,  you  oscillated  between 
two  opposite  points,  you  knew  not  to  which  point  you  would  at 
last  gravitate  and  where  you  would  "  finally"  settle,  and  yet  there 
did  come  a  point  in  your  thinking  and  deliberation  at  which  you 
said,  ' '  This  is  right,  I  see  it  at  length,  and  for  ever  I  will  take  my 
stand  here." 

It  was  so  in  your  appreciation  of  character,  it  was  so  in  your 
decisions  of  a  literary  and  commercial  kind,  it  was  so  in  the 
election  of  your  companionships,  it  was  so  in  the  change  of  your 
most  profound  and  solemn  opinions  ;  it  was  so,  too,  in  that 
grandest  act  of  life  for  which  there  is  no  better  term  than  the  old 
word  conversion.  You  remember  your  being  converted,  turned 
round,  set  in  a  homeward  direction,  taken  from  the  wrong  road, 
and  placed  in  the  right  one  :  without  cant  or  whine  or  mocking 
pretence,  you  are  not  ashamed  to  say  that  you  were  converted. 

You  have  a  parallel  also  in  the  formation  of  character.  No  man 
makes  a  character  in  a  day.  He  may  destroy  a  character  In  a 
moment,  but  it  takes  a  lifetime  to  build  one.  Many  of  you  are  in 
the  time  of  blossom  and  of  promise,  but  not  of  character.  Many 
who  now  hear  me  are  young,  and  they,  as  we  say,  shape  well,  but 
we  do  not  pronounce  anything  like  a  final  judgment  upon  them 
at  this  time.  No  young  man  can  have  such  a  character  as  is 
possible  to  old  age  if  that  old  age  has  been  reached  by  the  right 
processes.  It  would  be  impertinence  for  thirty  to  compare  itself 
with  sixty  or  with  seventy,  if  on  the  part  of  the  elder  there  has  been 
a  lifelong  endeavour  after  truth  and  purity  and  perfectness. 

Till  the  whole  was  leavened. ' '  Do  not  say  that  the  right 
leaven  is  not  in  us  because  the  end  has  not  been  reached. 
Judge  nothing  before  the  time.  You  complain  of  the  unripeness 
and  unmellowness,  the  superficiality  of  many  a  young  character, 
and  the  incompleteness  and  imperfectness  of  many  a  young  career. 


MATTHEW  XIIL  ZZ.  277 


Consider  and  see  how  foolish  you  are  in  pronouncing  such 
judgment  The  leaven  may  just  have  been  hid  in  the  three 
measures  of  meal  :  the  leaven  has  not  yet  had  time  to  work  :  the 
leaven  has  been  in  you  for  half  a  century,  but  it  has  only  been  in 
your  son  for  half  a  month  or  half  a  year — it  would  therefore  be  un- 
wise on  your  part  to  condemn  the  young  because  of  their  im- 
perfectness,  incompleteness,  immaturity.  It  is  right  for  youth  to 
be  imperfect,  but  for  you  at  your  ripe  seventy  to  be  as  childish, 
foolish,  worldly  as  the  youth  of  twenty,  that  would  be  double 
crime,  redoubled,  multiplied  by  many  an  aggravation,  and  carried 
up  to  a  point  of  black  blasphemy  against  every  law  of  growth  and 
right  and  divinity. 

Whilst  I  thus  speak  a  word  on  your  behalf,  young  hearers  and 
young  Christians,  understand  that  you  owe  my  defensive  advocacy 
wholly  to  the  fact  that  you  are  young.  That  which  applies  to 
you  to-day  will  have  no  application  whatever  in  twenty  years. 
Then  some  other  preacher  must  defend  some  other  generation. 
Do  not  interrupt  the  working  of  this  good  ministry  in  your  hearts  : 
do  not  imagine  that  that  ministry  has  completed  itself  in  your 
life  ;  you  will  expose  yourself  to  just  and  bitter  taunting  if  you 
give  your  elders  the  idea  that  the  leaven  of  the  gospel  has  worked 
out  its  whole  influence  in  your  spirit  and  career  at  a  time  when  it 
has  just  begun  to  move  in  penetrating  and  subduing  influence. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  only  penetrating  and  gradual,  it 
is  silent  in  its  ministry.  The  leaven  makes  no  noise,  it  works 
quietly.  Do  not  measure  progress  by  violence  :  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  cometh  not  with  obser\'ation.  There  is  a  subtle  as  well 
as  an  ostentatious  working.  You  have  got  to  learn  the  full  scope 
and  value  of  this  most  simple  fact.  A  vulgar  age  talks  as  if 
aggressiveness  had  but  one  form  and  one  method  only  as  we  are 
making  a  noise,  organising  great  bodies  and  forces,  publishing 
programmes  in  blood-red  ink  and  beating  a  thousand  drums  ;  it  is 
thought  that  we  are  making  no  announcement.  My  symbol  of 
progress  is  neither  a  hammer  nor  a  sword,  it  is  the  shining  light, 
the  growing  seed,  the  coming  summer  :  no  crash  of  wheels,  no 
blare  of  trumpets,  no  fluttering  of  banners  driven  by  the  wind,  but 
silent,  solemn,  irresistible  day,  spreading  its  conquering  light  over 


278  PENETRATING,    YET  SILENT, 

all  the  spaces  of  darkness,  awaking  all  living  things  to  labour  and 
to  song,  and  leaving  behind  it  a  benediction  that  shall  be  no  burden. 
Fussy,  fussing  little  man,  trumpeter  and  drummer,  and  gifted  with 
making  nothing  but  noises,  learn  from  thy  great  parabolical  Master 
this  day  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a 
woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was 
leavened — a  penetrating,  gradual,  secret,  silent  process,  but  a 
process  that  never  ended  till  the  work  was  done. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  no  man  mistake  the  parable,  and  by  a 
mischievous  perversion  of  its  teaching  cover  his  own  indifference 
and  neglect.  Do  not  say  that  you  are  silent  because  there  is  no 
virtue  in  silence  itself ;  you  must  not  be  silent  only,  but  penetrating, 
progressive.  Not  only  is  the  figure  negative,  it  is  positive  ; 
quietness  may  be  taken  as  the  negative  side,  h\xi  penelration  is  the 
active  and  positive  aspect. 

What  about  your  kingdom  of  heaven — is  it  a  thing  locked  up 
in  a  safe,  well  shut  in,  deposited  within  an  inner  door,  on  which 
you  turn  twenty  cunningly-formed  keys  .''  It  is  a  kingdom,  mayhap, 
but  it  is  not  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  it  is  not  the  divine  thought, 
it  is  not  the  life  that  cometh  down  from  heaven  ;  that  life  is  not 
demonstrative,  ostentatious,  aggressive  in  any  offensive  sense  of 
the  term,  but  it  is  penetrating,  subtle  in  its  influence,  always 
moving,  always  conquering,  never  resting  till  the  whole  is  leavened. 
Be  such  influence  yours  and  mine. 

Take  the  next  parable  for  one  moment :  "  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  a  net  that  was  cast  into  the  sea  and  gathered 
of  every  kind."  There  was  nothing  discriminating  in  the  net 
itself.  The  Church  is  a  net  that  holds  all  sorts  of  people.  Have 
we  no  parallels  to  this  idea  in  our  own  courses  of  imperial,  civil, 
and  social  action  }  Truly  we  have  a  thousand  parallels.  The 
kingdom  of  patriotism  is  like  unto  a  net  that  was  cast  into  the  sea 
and  gathered  of  every  kind.  Do  you  suppose  that  all  who  have 
gathered  themselves  together  in  the  people's  House  of  Parliament 
are  patriots  of  the  divine  sort,  men  who  have  no  ulterior  object  of 
a  selfish  kind,  men  who  have  spent  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  pounds  to  go  into  Parliament,  that  they  might  die  as  pure 
martyrs   on   the   altar   of   their   country  ?     Are   you    no   further 


MATTHEW  XIII.  47-50.  279 

advanced  in  your  study  of  human  nature  than  to  beheve  such  to 
be  the  case  ?  The  House  of  Commons  is  as  a  net  cast  into  the 
sea  that  has  gathered  of  every  kind.  There  are  in  all  Houses  of 
Parliament,  all  over  the  world,  noble  men,  high-spirited  patriots, 
incorruptible  spirits  that  devote  themselves  to  the  noblest  interests 
of  their  country  ;  there  are  others  who,  perhaps,  were  never  moved 
by  a  noble  impulse  in  any  direction,  and  to  whom  the  country  is 
nothing  but  a  gigantic  money-producing  machine.  Shall  we, 
therefore,  revile  patriotism,  and  run  down  great  national  institu- 
tions, and  hurl  indiscriminating  epithets  against  forms  of  civilisa- 
tion to  which  we  owe  so  much  ?  It  would  be  not  only  unwise 
and  rash,  but  unjust  and  inexcusable. 

The  kingdom  of  philanthropy  is  also  like  a  net  cast  into  the 
sea,  and  which  gathered  of  every  kind.  Do  you  suppose  that  all 
persons  who  wear  the  name  of  philanthropists  are  philanthropic 
in  heart  ?  There  are  men  who  make  a  trade  of  philanthropy  ; 
there  are  those  who  live  upon  the  charitable  dispositions  of  others  ; 
there  are  men  who  coin  the  tears  of  sympathy  into  wealth  for 
their  own  using.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  philanthropists 
without  whom  the  world  would  be  poor,  who  have  great,  broad, 
soft  hands  that  lay  upon  the  world's  weakness  a  grip  that  helps 
it,  and  that  give  to  the  world's  poverty  donations  which  make  it 
forget  its  destitution.  But  because  there  are  all  sorts  of  persons 
in  the  kingdom  of  philanthropy  shall  we  say  that  there  is  no 
philanthropy  of  a  pure  and  noble  sort }  He  would  be  a  foolish  and 
an  unjust  man  who  would  bring  any  such  wild  accusation  against 
the  philanthropic  spirit  of  the  age. 

Then,  again,  the  kingdom  of  general  society  is  like  a  net  cast 
into  the  sea,  which  gathered  of  every  kind.  When  your  house- 
parties  gather,  do  you  suppose  that  every  man  in  the  little  crowd 
is  a  friend  of  yours,  sincere,  true,  genuine,  disinterested  }  You 
are  not  so  weak.  Do  you  judge  men  wholly  by  their  clothes — 
because  they  have  respectable  coats,  have  they  therefore  respect- 
able characters }  Because  they  have  had  good  schooling  in  the 
head,  have  they  had  a  thorough  education  in  the  heart .?  You 
know  the  answer  to  these  searching  inquiries.  Shall  we,  therefore, 
go  round  and  condemn  society,  and  regard  all  fellowship  and 
communion  as  an  organised  lie  ?  We  shall  stoop  to  no  such 
folly. 


28o  MIXTURES  IN  THE   CHURCH. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  should  draw 
within  itself  every  kind.  The  Church  has  its  bad  members  as 
well  as  its  good  ones.  I  do  not  wonder — the  Church  is  an  excel- 
lent lodging.  To  be  in  the  Church  is  to  look  well  ;  to  have  a 
pew  in  church  is  to  begin  on  the  right  list ;  to  make  a  profession 
of  the  most  popular  religion  is,  at  all  events,  to  have  a  card  of 
introduction  to  very  large  sections  of  honourable  society.  Shall 
we,  therefore,  say  there  is  no  kingdom  of  heaven  because  of  the 
insincere,  the  unworthy,  and  the  hypocritical }  You  would  not 
allow  me  to  say  so  about  patriotism,  philanthropy,  and  social 
institutions,  and  therefore,  faithful  to  your  own  wise  reasoning, 
I  must  protest  against  any  man's  arising  to  bring  a  wild  and  indis- 
criminating  accusation  against  what  is  known  as  the  Christian 
Church. 

Observe,  Christ  does  not  hide  the  fact  of  a  mixture.  Christ 
never  hides  any  ugly  facts  ;  Christ  makes  more  of  his  own  failures 
than  any  other  man  could  make  of  them.  He  cries  over  them, 
he  drenches  them  with  tears,  he  lifts  up  his  voice  and  fills  the 
whole  space  of  the  firmament  with  his  moan.  He  acknowledges 
that  he  would,  but  the  cities  would  not.  You  will  observe,  also, 
that  the  bad  is  a  testimony  and  compliment  to  the  good.  The 
children  of  this  world  are  not  unwise  in  their  generation.  They 
know  where  to  cross  the  stream,  they  know  the  best  form  and 
attitude  to  assume  in  order  to  attract  the  friendly  attention 
of  the  world  ;  they  are  learned  men  in  their  own  policies  and 
methods,  and  if  some  of  them  have  counterfeited  the  metal,  it 
was  because  it  was  the  metal  of  heaven  that  it  was  counterfeited. 

And  observe  that  the  bad  do  not  succeed  in  hiding  themselves. 
There  is  no  impenetrable  secrecy  in  character.  Every  bad  fish 
was  found  in  the  net  and  cast  out.  We  may  be  in  the  visible 
church  and  not  in  the  invisible.  The  Church  is  a  mystical  body. 
Not  who  was  baptized  with  water,  but  who  has  been  baptized  with 
fire,  is  the  deciding  question.  Not  who  preached  with  infinite 
eloquence,  but  who  lived  with  blameless  consistency,  is  the  deter- 
mining, penetrating  question.  Not  who  professed,  but  who 
carried  out,  will  be  the  rule  of  judgment.  But  observe — and 
here  whh  a  sharp  knife  I  cut  off  the  pleasures  of  a  thousand 


MATTHEW  XIII.  47-50.  281 

critics — it  was  the  angels  that  had  to  perform  the  work  of  dis- 
crimination and  separation,  and  not  the  fellow-members  of  the 
Church.  It  was  not  the  good  fish  that  expelled  the  bad  ;  the 
angels  came  forth  and  severed  the  wicked  from  among  the  just. 
So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  age,  so  shall  it  be  with  the  tares 
and  the  wheat.  The  question  was,  "  Shall  we  go  and  root  out 
the  tares  T '  and  the  answer  was,  ' '  No,  lest  in  pulling  up  the 
tares  ye  pull  up  the  wheat  also. "  It  is  not  my  business  to  find 
out  your  badness  ;  it  is  not  your  business  to  find  out  my  corrup- 
tion. When  one  or  the  other  "becomes  so  exposed  and  evident 
and  mischievous  as  to  admit  of  no  dispute  and  no  palliation,  I 
say  not  that  action  may  not  be  taken  under  such  conclusive  cir- 
cumstances ;  but  when  the  question  is  one  of  difficulty  the  decision 
should  be  one  of  charity.  I  would  expel  no  man  unless  driven  to 
it  by  evidence  that  not  only  convinced  me,  but  that  blinded 
me  by  its  dazzling  light.  And  why  not  expel  any  human  soul  ? 
Because  the  good  may  be  larger  than  the  bad  in  that  very  soul. 
It  would  be  easy  for  me  to  condemn  any  man  who  practises  a 
sin  for  which  I  have  no  liking — but  what  of  my  own  sin  ?  Who 
are  we  that  we  shall  judge  one  another,  except  nobly  and  hope- 
fully ?  We  shall  be  much  deceived  and  disappointed  in  so  doing  ; 
still  it  may  be  better  to  be  disappointed  and  deceived  in  large 
applications  of  charitable  criticism  than  to  be  confirmed,  and  to 
have  our  judgment  approved,  by  some  narrow,  selfish,  unworthy 
judgment. 


LVII. 

PARABLES  TURNED  TO  ACCOUNT. 

Matthew    xiii.  51-58. 

51.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Have  ye  understood  all  these  things  ?  They 
say  unto  him,  Yea,  Lord. 

52.  Then  said  he  unto  them,  Therefore  every  scribe  which  is  instructed 
unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  householder, 
which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old. 

53.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Jesus  had  finished  these  parables, 
he  departed  thence. 

54.  And  when  he  was  come  into  his  own  country,  he  taught  them  in 
their  synagogue,  insomuch  that  they  were  astonished,  and  said,  Whence 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom  and  these  mighty  works  ? 

55.  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son  ?  is  not  his  mother  called  Mary  ? 
and  his  brethren,  James,  and  Joses,  and  Simon,  and  Judas  ? 

56.  And  his  sisters,  are  they  not  all  with  us  ?  Whence  then  hath  this 
man  all  these  things  ? 

57.  And  they  were  offended  in  him.  But  Jesus  said  unto  them,  A 
prophet  is  not  without  honour,  save  in  his  own  country,  and  in  his  own 
house. 

58.  And  he  did  not  many  mighty  works  there  because  of  their  unbelief. 

JESUS  CHRIST  uttered  a  gospel  which  was  meant  to  be 
understood.  Do  not  create  more  mysteries  than  he  himself 
created.  Jesus  Christ  took  his  disciples,  so  to  say,  into  co- 
partnery in  divine  teaching  :  this  circumstance  is  never  to  be 
forgotten  in  estimating  the  value  and  force  of  the  Christian  argu- 
ment. There  is  to  be  no  needless  mystery.  Mystery  comes  as 
a  necessity,  and  is  not  to  be  introduced  by  clever  persons  as  a 
merely  intellectual  puzzle.  This  kingdom  of  heaven  was  meant 
to  be  understood,  to  be  grasped  by  the  human  mind,  and  to  be 
reproduced  in  human  speech  and  in  human  life. 

Observe,  the  disciples  did  not  understand  the  parables  until 
they  went  to  Jesus  Christ  himself  for    an  explanation.      They 


MATTHEW  XIII.  s^-S^.  283 

followed  him  into  the  house,  and  said,  "  What  did  that  parable 
mean  ?' '  The  Parabolist  became  the  Expositor.  He  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  In  reading  these  parables,  turn 
up  the  expectant  heart  after  every  one  of  them,  and  say,  "  Lord, 
what  is  the  meaning  V '  and  he  will  withhold  from  your  under- 
standing nothing  that  is  needful  to  the  thorough  illumination  of 
every  word  he  has  spoken  and  that  was  intended  for  reduction  to 
practical  life. 

Keep  within  the  truth  you  do  understand,  if  you  would  be 
mighty  as  speakers.  That  is  the  secret  of  impression  and  of  con- 
sequences of  the  best  and  most  enduring  kind.  It  is  not  given  to 
every  man  to  understand  equally  the  whole  revealed  word  :  one 
man  hath  a  gift  of  tongues  and  can  speak  all  languages  in  the 
sanctuary  ;  another  man  hath  a  parable,  in  the  interpretation  of 
which  he  is  almost  a  genius  ;  a  third  is  a  speaker  of  consolations, 
his  face  was  meant  to  represent  them,  and  his  voice,  itself  a  mys- 
tery, was  intended  to  convey  solaces  to  the  heart  with  all  the 
witchery  of  celestial  music. 

This  is  the  rule  in  all  life,  pulpit  life,  market-place  life,  theo- 
logical, commercial,  literary,  artistic,  musical — keep  within  the  limits 
of  your  understanding  ;  do  not  let  the  sparrow  try  to  fly  as  high  as 
the  eagle,  and  do  not  let  the  child's  little  paper-boat  go  far  out 
upon  the  sea,  if  ever  it  is  meant  to  be  brought  home  again.  There 
are  portions  of  this  Bible  which  none  of  us  understand  :  there  are 
whole  pages  and  books  here  that  I  can  make  nothing  of.  To 
some,  perhaps,  it  may  have  been  given — but  I  have  not  had  time  to 
inquire  into  their  credentials — to  expound  the  mysterious  proph- 
ecies of  the  word  ;  to  others  it  may  have  been  given  to  follow 
its  typology  with  such  intelligence  as  to  be  able  to  write  under 
every  type  exactly  what  it  signifies.  I  have  not  been  conducted 
into  those  remote  schools,  I  cannot  tell  you  anything  about  proph- 
ecies and  dates,  and  the  interpretation  of  beasts  and  vials  and 
trumpetings  and  apocalyptic  signs — but  this  one  thing  I  know, 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  and  Teacher  and  Hope  of  the 
world.  Within  that  limit  do  we  range  here,  and  if  we  have  gone 
in  and  out  and  found  pasture  abundant,  the  praise  be  his  who 


284  THE  REALITY  OF  GOD'S  KINGDOM. 

made  the  pasture  so  luxuriant  and  bade  us  to  the  enjoyment  of 
his  hospitality. 

Having  understood  these  mysteries  so  far,  what  was  to  be  done  ? 
No  sooner  did  the  disciples  answer,  "Yea,  Lord,"  than  he  said 

unto  them,  "  Therefore . "     This  man's  words  come  one  after 

the  other  in  most  gracious  and  logical  continuity.  They  no 
sooner  admitted  their  understanding  than  out  of  that  admission 
he  struck,  the  spark  of  a  final  parable.  He  was  the  Life,  to  touch 
him  anywhere  was  to  extract  virtue  from  his  being.  The  intellect 
that  had  conceived  these  parables,  so  varied,  so  resplendent,  so 
exact  in  all  their  adaptations  to  circumstances,  was  not  tired. 
Omnipotence  cannot  be  tired,  omniscience  cannot  be  exhausted. 
So  when  the  disciples  said,  "Yea,  Lord,"  their  very  admission 
was  turned  into  another  parable.  "Therefore  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  householder,"  a  parable  after 
the  parables,  a  sermon  after  the  sermons.  There  was  no  ending 
to  this  man's  teaching,  the  word  was  not  its  measure  :  after  every 
word  there  followed  an  infinite  ghostliness  of  possibility  and 
suggestion.      Let  us  look  at  this  final  parable. 

"  Therefore  every  scribe  which  is  instructed  unto  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  householder,  which 
bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old. ' '  A  house- 
holder who  has  treasure  :  Jesus  Christ  claims  for  all  the  scribes 
of  his  following  substantial  truth.  They  do  not  utter  mere 
phrases  of  their  own  making  or  utter  sentiments  which  are  the 
measure  of  their  own  sighing  and  desire  only.  In  the  Church  of 
God  there  is  a  positive  quantity,  a  subjective  truth,  a  content  that, 
so  to  say,  can  be  seen,  handled,  felt,  known,  as  a  personal  posses- 
sion, an  individual  inheritance.  Look  at  this  circumstance  most 
carefully,  those  of  you  who  are  anxious  to  know  what  Christianity 
really  comprehends  and  purports  to  be.  It  is  not  a  sigh,  it  is  not 
a  sentiment,  it  is  not  a  rhapsody — there  is  nothing  of  the  nature 
of  mere  fantasy  in  it.  It  has  solid  doctrines,  grand  conceptions 
of  the  divine  being,  broad  and  luminous  revelations  respecting 
human  nature,  great,  solid,  massive  gospels  as  to  the  redemption 
of  the  race  from  the  presence,  power,  tyranny,  and  torment  of 
sin,  and  infinite  hope  which  it  can  only  indicate  by  words  not 


MA  TTHE  W  XI I L  51-58.  285 

earthly,  but  which  fall  infinitely  short  of  the  reality  as  God  himself 
understands  it.  But  a  word  has  been  given  us  which  overpasses 
earth,  time,  death,  tomb,  shadow,  and  shines  yonder  as  heaven. 

So  there  is  range  enough  in  this  divine  revelation.  If  viewed 
poetically  only,  it  is  a  grand  and  complete  conception.  It  is  not 
a  broken  arc,  it  is  not  a  segment  that  mourns  a  loss  which  it  can 
neither  define  nor  fill  up — it  is  a  great  complete  circle,  equally 
strong,  and  equally  luminous  at  every  point  of  its  infinite  circum- 
ference. So  the  Word  of  God  is  called  bread  :  it  is  known 
amongst  men  as  the  water  of  life,  of  which,  if  a  man  drink,  he 
shall  thirst  no  more.  The  result  of  the  appropriation  of  Chris- 
tian truth  and  blessing  is  rest — rest  in  the  soul,  peace  in  the 
mind,  calm  in  the  heart,  and  no  man  within  my  knowledge 
has  ever  tasted  the  value  of  this  treasure,  and  entered  with  con- 
scious joy  into  its  proprietorship,  that  has  owned  to  one  pang 
of  disappointment.  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to 
the  waters,  and  as  for  your  hunger,  let  your  soul  delight  itself  in 
fatness. 

Not  only  is  the  scribe  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  householder, 
with  treasure  in  his  possession,  but  he  is  a  householder  who  dis- 
penses his  treasure.  He  brings  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things 
new  and  old.  The  wise  man  holds  nothing  for  himself  alone  : 
we  are  trustees,  we  are  stewards,  who  act  on  behalf  and  in  the 
interest  of  others.  Every  idea  which  I  may  have  is  yours,  every 
idea  which  you  may  have  is  mine.  We  help  one  another  by  the 
friction  of  mind,  the  communion  of  heart,  the  mutual  reciproca- 
tion of  life,  idea,  thought,  and  purpose.  The  Church  is  a  com- 
monwealth— no  one  man  is  lord  or  king  in  it,  except  by  natural 
rights  and  proofs  which  no  other  would  for  a  moment  dispute  ; 
but  the  humblest  has  a  right  to  the  ideas  of  the  wisest. 

This  is  the  difficulty  of  the  Christian  Church  throughout  the 
world  to-day.  The  door  of  the  church  is  open,  the  front  door 
and  the  back  door  and  the  side  door,  and  above  every  open  door 
is  written  "Welcome"  to  the  humblest,  poorest,  meanest  of  the 
population.  If  any  Church  is  acting  upon  other  lines  than  these, 
that  Church  seems  to  me  to  fall  below  its  high  vocation  in  Christ 
Jesus.     I  know  nothing  of  your  narrow  exclusiveness,   I  know 


286  BENEFICENT  USE  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


nothing  of  what  is  known  as  your  close  communion  ;  I  would  not 
be  a  party  to  any  communion  that  is  close,  I  believe  in  the  infinite 
breadth,  height,  depth  of  these  divine  gospels  and  all  their  prac- 
tical meaning.  This  is  my  Father's  house,  and  no  man  has  a 
right  to  label  it,  or  number  it,  so  that  it  shall  exclude  the  very 
poorest  human  creature  that  crawls  upon  the  earth  this  day. 

Understand  that  you  cannot  grasp  the  whole  treasure.  It  is 
not  within  your  power  to  consume  the  whole  banquet,  that  is  no 
reason  why  you  should  not  satisfy  your  hunger  at  this  table.  To 
one  man  is  given  five  talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  another  one 
— to  every  man  according  to  his  several  ability,  and  every  man 
has  it  in  his  power  to  lay  hold  of  Christ  somewhere.  Know 
where  your  fingers  were  meant  to  lay  their  loving  grip,  and  hold 
fast  according  to  the  divine  purpose. 

As  for  those  of  you  who  have  the  divine  treasure,  do  not  keep  U  to 
yourselves.  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  In  proportion  as  power  is  given  unto  you  go  ye 
and  teach  all  nations.  That  is  the  only  true  and  most  benefi- 
cent use  of  power.  How  is  this  to  be  done  .?  Why,  this  house- 
holder showed  genius  in  the  distribution  of  his  treasure — he 
brought  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old.  Surely  this 
was  a  proof  of  his  instruction.  I  would  not  listen  to  one  sermon 
that  was  all  new  ;  in  every  discourse  concerning  the  gospel  which 
I  hear  there  must  be  the  boom,  the  infinite  sounding  of  eternity  ; 
then  may  come  the  new  parable,  the  bright  suggestion,  the  flash 
of  immediate  wit,  the  kindling  of  sudden  lights  and  the  inbreak- 
ing  of  subtle  and  surprising  music.  But  underneath  every  flower 
of  human  genius  I  must  find  the  rocks  of  divine  wisdom. 

This  is  the  true  method,  as  it  is  also  the  true  purpose  of  all 
teaching.  In  the  school,  in  the  nursery,  at  the  fireside,  in  the 
church — to  give  everybody  to  feel  the  venerableness,  the  indestruc- 
tibleness  of  truth,  and  to  lure  them  to  its  study  and  love  and 
appropriation,  by  new  hints,  by  novel  adaptations,  it  may  be 
sometimes  even  by  eccentric  uses  of  facts  and  thoughts — things 
new  and  old — old  time — new  summers — old  light — new  morn- 
ings ;  old  eternities — new-born  time ;  everlasting  duration — 
transient  days.     So  must  things  be  intermingled  and  allied  in  any 


MATTHEW  XIII.  51-58.  287 


utterance  that  is  philosophical,  profound,  sympathetic,  and  imme- 
diately useful  in  this  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Now  Jesus  seems  to  come  down  from  the  mountain  once  more, 
as  he  did  after  his  great  sermon.  In  its  own  way  this  sermon  is 
as  great  as  the  first  :  the  sermon  so  strong  in  doctrine  was  followed 
by  the  sermon  so  brilliant  in  imagination.  Over  the  wheat-field  is 
spread  the  glory  of  a  gleaming  and  many-coloured  sky  :  out  of  that 
sky  indeed  the  wheat-field  came,  and  without  it  the  wheat-field 
could  neither  be  sown  nor  reaped.  We  must  not  exclude 
Imagination  from  the  treasure  of  the  Church  :  it  is  the  highest 
faculty  which  can  be  used,  it  is  the  inner  eye,  it  is  that  divine 
vision  which  sees  more  than  is  penetrable  by  scholarship.  This 
is  the  difference  between  one  man  and  another.  One  man  knows 
the  letter,  is  absolutely  faultless  in  all  the  uses  of  grammar,  yet 
there  may  never  come  one  syllable  of  fire  or  one  drop  of  dew 
from  his  philological  lips.  People  listen,  but  are  never  thrilled 
with  glad  responses.  Another  man  holds  the  divine  secret  and 
breathes  it  over  our  life  at  his  will,  and  makes  the  heart  leap  with 
sudden  joy  and  cry  out  because  of  glad  surprise. 

Some  do  not  know  what  imagination  is  :  they  think  if  they  are 
good  at  description  they  are  strong,  in  imagination  :  this  is  the 
absurdity,  this  the  mischievous  sophism — when  you  have  mentioned 
all  the  seven  colours  you  have  painted  nothing  :  if  you  were  to 
paint  a  tree  exactly  as  it  is,  you  would  not  have  painted  it 
at  all.  That  is  a  mystery  and  a  fact ;  the  trunk  is  the  same 
height,  the  branches  are  the  same  in  number,  and  all  the 
dimensions  are  exact,  all  the  leaves  have  been  counted,  and  you 
tell  me  that  the  tree  upon  the  canvas  is  not  the  same  as  the  tree 
in  the  wood .?  Certainly,  they  have  no  connection  with  one 
another  ;  you  had  not  the  eye  that  saw  the  inner  tree — that  is  not 
.  the  tree  standing  in  the  wood,  that  is  the  body  ;  the  spiritual  tree 
is  inside  that,  and  you  must  get  it  out  and  translate  it,  idealize  it. 
So  the  man  standing  there  is  not  the  man  :  that  is  his  house  of 
clay,  his  tabernacle  of  dust — the  man  is  inside  ;  you  must  see 
that  inner  light  and  describe  that  mysterious  man.  So  the  letter 
of  the  gospel  is  before  me,  and  it  may  be  a  letter  only  unless  I 
have  that  vision  and  faculty  divine  which  can  penetrate  the  inner 


288  LOW-MINDED    CRITICISM. 

sanctuary  of  the  thought  and  bring  forth  things  new  and  old  with 
the  honesty  of  a  steward  and  the  energy  of  a  genius. 

Have  ye  understood  these  things  ?  Not — have  ye  heard  the 
letter  ?  Not — can  you  recite  the  parables  one  b)'  one  ?  Not — .have 
they  fallen  upon  your  outer  ear  and  made  a  noise  there  ?  Have 
ye  understood  these  things,  have  they  entered  into  the  very  tissue 
and  substance  of  your  brain,  do  they  fall  into  musical  accord  with 
all  the  springs  and  issues  of  your  purest  and  noblest  thinking .? 
When  you  relate  them,  will  you  recite  them  as  lessons  which  you 
have  learned,  or  will  you  breathe  them  as  part  of  the  very  life  that 
is  in  you  .''  When  we  can  answer  "  Yes"  to  Jesus  Christ's  ques- 
tions, he  will  follow  our  admission  with  a  pungent  and  practical 
exhortation. 

Now  comes  the  inevitable  criticism,  the  mean  and  low-minded 
attack  which  even  the  Son  of  God  could  not  escape.  "  Whence 
hath  this  man  this  wisdom  and  these  mighty  works  .-*  Is  not  this 
the  carpenter's  Son.?  Is  not  his  mother  called  Mary.?  and  his 
brethren  James  and  Joses  and  Simon  and  Judas .?  and  his  sisters, 
are  they  not  all  with  us }  Whence  then  hath  this  man  all  these 
things.?"  The  inevitable  criticism,  the  inevitable  sneer,  the 
inevitable  profanation  of  every  sanctuary  God  has  built  upon  the 
earth  I  How  is  this  .?  how  can  it  be  that  men  can  say  these  things, 
acknowledging  their  reality,  power,  and  splendour,  and  can  in  the 
same  breath  say  "  This  man,"  with  a  covert  sneer .?  This  impos- 
sibility we  are  performing  ourselves  every  day  !  Instead  of  fixing 
our  attention  upon  these  mighty  works  and  all  this  wisdom,  and 
availing  ourselves  of  the  substantial  revelation,  we  fall  foul  upon 
the  poor  instrument  through  whom  the  revelation  was  granted,  we 
hurl  at  him  every  reminiscence  we  can  gather  up,  and  we  disparage 
his  personality  that  we  may  blunt  the  force  of  his  appeal.  Do 
not  mourn  such  ingratitude  and  baseness,  as  if  it  were  the  Jewish 
property  only  :  Jesus  Christ  was  not  hated  and  crucified  by  the 
Jews,  he  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men. 

I  was  recently  rebuked  upon  this  point  with  a  rare  piquancy 
and  most  pathetic  simplicity.  A  learned  man  followed  me  after 
the  discourse,  and,  speaking  with  a  strong  German    accent,    he 


MATTHEW  XIII.  51-58. 


assured  himself  and  me  in  the  same  breath  that  what  he  was 
about  to  say  was  well  intended.  Then  said  he,  "I  was  with  you 
on  the  occasion  of  your  five  hundredth  noonday  service.  I  am 
the  preacher  in  such  and  such  London  synagogue,  and, ' '  said  he, 
"  if  you  will  excuse  me,  there  was  one  line  in  the  carol  which 
gave  me  pain."  Bringing  the  carol  under  my  eyes,  he  said,  "  See 
— '  the  wicked  Jews' — why  did  you  sing  that  in  your  church  about 
the  wicked  Jews  V  Within  the  lines  of  a  narrow  history  the  carol 
was  right,  but  within  the  true  boundary  the  carol  was  wrong. 
They  were  not  the  Jews  that  killed  him,  mocked  him,  spurned 
him,  threw  his  earthly  ancestry  in  his  face  ;  it  was — man,  every 
man.  We  crucified  the  Son  of  God,  we  Gentiles  had  our  share 
in  that  foul  tragedy.  Do  not  teach  your  children  in  the  school 
and  at  the  fireside  that  some  wicked  people  called  Jews  did  this 
to  Jesus  Christ,  and  express  yourselves  in  horror  about  the  Jews 
as  if  you  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  truth  is  this — we  were 
all  there,  we  all  cut  the  accursed  tree  out  of  the  forest  and  planted 
it  and  nailed  to  it  the  Son  of  God,  and  as  he  hangs  there  tell  all 
the  world  that  this  was  not  a  geographical  incident  or  a  mere 
point  in  passing  history — that  this  crucifixion  was  the  work  of  the 
whole  race,  and  that  every  eye  must  look  upon  it  and  every  heart 
mourn  it  as  its  own  cruel  deed. 

This  is  the  worst  they  can  say  about  the  Son  of  God.  Let  us 
read  it  again.  "  Whence  hath  this  man"  — covert  sneer — "  this 
wisdom  and  these  mighty  works  t  We  cannot  deny  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  but  is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son  .?"  What  an 
awful  accusation.  "Is  not  his  mother  called  Mary  .?"  What  a 
distressing  indictment  against  any  man  !  ' '  And  his  brethren, 
James  and  Joses  and  Simon  and  Judas }  and  his  sisters,  are 
they  not  all  with  us  }"  Well,  suppose  we  say,  "  Yes,  they  are  '"  ; 
— now  what  then  1  I  am  glad  they  say  this  ;  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  said,  they  would  have  said  it  if  they  could,  yea,  they 
would  have  dreamed  a  lie  and  imagined  it  true  if  they  could. 

Christian  man,  Christian  inquirer,  hear  me.  This  is  the  indict- 
ment brought  against  him  in  whose  name  you  were  baptized — 
does  it  alarm,  does  it  frighten  you,  does  it  bring  with  it  any  sense 
of  oppressive  humihation  ?     He  was  the  carpenter's  son,  he  was 


290  THE   CARPENTER' S  SON. 


the  carpenter,  his  mother's  name  was  Mary,  such  and  such  were 
his  social  surroundings — now,  when  the  little  tale  has  been  told, 
what  remains  ?  Hear  the  great  thunder-burst  of  music  and 
eloquence  rolling  down  the  mountain,  and  then  listen  to  this 
little  piping  scorn,  and  tell  me  on  which  side  do  you  stand  ?  I 
would  stand  with  Christ,  the  carpenter's  Son,  the  Son  of  Mary. 


LVIII. 
REVIEW  OP  THE  THIRTEENTH  CHAPTER. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Connect  this  circumstance  with  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  and  ask  yourselves  what  is 
the  connection  between  a  kingdom  and  salvation.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  has  a  great  part  to  play  in  the  work  of  evangelising  the 
nations.  A  purpose  that  goes  out  to  take  hold  of  kingdoms  must 
itself  be  a  kingdom.  You  cannot  lay  hold  of  worlds  with  a  weak 
hand.  You  may  affect  the  immediately  surrounding  by  trifling 
circumstances,  but  if  you  are  going  to  lay  your  grasp  upon  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  you  must  have  a 
force  equal  to  the  occasion.  Jesus  Christ  proposes  to  take  hold 
of  all  kingdoms  and  to  transform  them  into  his  own  excellence, 
and  fill  them  with  the  glory  of  his  own  excellent  name.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven,  therefore,  is  a  royal  truth  ;  it  is  a  royal  powei  ; 
it  is  not  one  among  many  competitors,  it  stands  alone  and  must 
absorb  and  sanctify  all  rivalries.  Do  not  lower  the  occasion  ; 
realise  its  grandeur  and  rise  to  its  appeal. 

In  this  chapter  Jesus  Christ  gives  the  word  "  kingdom"  a  new 
meaning  and  application.  Up  to  this  time  it  was  an  imperial  term 
only  or  a  geographical  expression.  Kingdom  was  a  quantity 
bounded  and  named  by  the  consent  of  other  powers  or  held 
against  them  by  superior  force.  It  was  a  mere  term  in  geography, 
in  government,  in  statesmanship  ;  in  Jesus  Christ's  hands  it  be- 
comes a  heavenly  claim,  a  divine  power,  a  sacred  sovereignty  of 
impulses,  thoughts,  and  purposes,  so  that  all  that  is  merely 
geographical  drops  off,  and  all  that  is  heavenly  clothes  the  royal 
word. 

So  far  I  could  go  well.  I  am  stopped  just  there  by  an  unusual 
punctuation,  the  discrepancy  between  the  speaker  and  the  subject. 


292  TEACHING  BY  CONTRASTS. 

Kpeasani  talking  about  a  kingdom — the  rhyme  is  broken  !  A  home- 
less wanderer  using  the  highest  terms  in  human  speech — who  can 
account  for  the  discrepancy  ?  I  am  not  troubled  by  the  discrepancy 
which  the  critics  find  in  dates  and  places  and  small  incidents,  but 
a  discrepancy  like  this  may  well  take  the  rest  out  of  my  heart,  and 
fill  that  heart  with  a  grievous  discontent.  The  world  was  too  big 
for  the  speaker  :  he  did  not,  from  a  human  point  of  view,  look  a 
king  until  he  was  looked  at  the  second  time,  and  watched  the  clock 
round,  and  the  year  round,  and  not  until  the  spirit  was  instructed 
in  the  mysteries  of  his  truth  did  this  personality  take  upon  it  its 
wondrous  visage  and  colour.  Why,  really,  it  is  no  discrepancy  at 
all  :  the  discrepancy  was  in  me  and  not  in  Christ.  I  find  that 
this  is  an  eternal  truth  ;  that  evermore  the  speaker  is  to  be  nothing, 
and  the  subject  is  to  fill  the  heavens.  Why,  herein  is  the  very 
glory  of  Christianity — that  it  absorbs  all  other  little  piping  eloquence 
in  the  infinite  redundance  of  its  own  thunder,  and  that  our  person- 
ality as  revealers  of  the  kingdom  is  nothing  as  compared  with 
the  majesty  and  glory  of  the  thing  that  is  revealed.  Unhappily, 
even  Jesus  Christ  himself,  as  you  see  at  the  end  of  the  chapter, 
was  not  able  so  to  control  the  thinking  of  the  people  who  heard 
him  as  to  fix  it  upon  the  subject.  They,  little  creatures,  could 
rise  no  higher  than  the  speaker,  and  they  mocked  him  because 
of  the  discrepancy  that  was  in  reality  an  argument  and  a  vin- 
dication. 

In  reading  this  chapter  as  a  whole  I  am  struck  with  four  things. 
First  of  all,  from  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  you  may 
learn,  without  a  single  word  being  said  upon  the  subject,  the 
nature  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe 
the  kingdom  of  darkness  :  what  you  and  I,  as  Christian  teachers, 
have  to  do,  is  to  describe  the  kingdom  of  light.  This  was  Christ's 
most  wise  and  subtle  method  of  teaching — not  to  paint  hell — to 
refer  to  it  in  great  graphic  sentences  as  if  in  haste  to  be  done  with 
it,  but  with  great  elaboration  and  pomp  of  simplicity  to  reveal 
the  infinite  kingdom  of  God  's  truth  and  light  and  purity.  Every 
parable  that  is  spoken  here  admits  of  being  turned  in  the  directly 
opposite  quarter,  so  as  to  reveal  that  about  which  it  says  nothing. 
Thus — the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  who  sowed  good 
seed.  Then  the  kingdom  of  darkness  is  like  unto  a  man  who  sowed 
bad  seed,  seeds  of  death,  seeds  of  unhealthiness,  seeds  of  disease, 


MATTHEW  XIII. 


293 


seeds  of  error.      Learn  thus  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  what  the 
opposing  kingdom  is. 

Again — the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure.  Then  the 
kingdom  of  darkness  is  like  unto  a  bubble  in  the  air  :  it  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  if  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
treasure,  the  kingdom  of  darkness  is  an  empty  though  gilded 
bubble,  floating  on  the  quiet  breeze.  Snatched,  it  is  destroyed  ; 
there  is  nothing  in  it.  It  is  wanting  in  substance,  in  positive  and 
applicable  value,  it  does  not  enrich  life,  it  is  weight  without  gravity, 
a  burden  without  value,  a  kingdom  truly,  but  a  kingdom  of  dis- 
appointment. 

Again — the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  leaven  which  a  woman 
took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal.  Then  the  kingdom  of 
darkness  is  as  poison  which  a  man  took  and  secretly  injected  into 
the  veins  of  a  sleeper  until  the  whole  was  poisoned.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  a  great  force  that  secretly  and  silently  works  out  the 
soul's  regeneration  ;  the  kingdom  of  darkness  is  as  the  sting  of 
the  tsetse  fly  ;  the  tsetse  fly  seizes  the  ox,  stings  the  noble  brute, 
and  in  course  of  time  the  flesh  swells  and  discolours,  the  skin  falls 
off,  and  the  strong  one  is  thrown  down  in  weakness  and  in  death. 
The  kingdom  of  darkness,  therefore,  is  not  a  weak  power,  it  is 
not  an  ineffective  ministr}'  :  it  also  works,  often  silently  and 
secretly,  but  it  is  working  out  the  soul's  destruction. 

Or  thus — the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net  cast  into 
the  sea  and  gathers  of  every  kind.  The  kingdom  of  darkness  is 
as  a  net  thrown  into  the  sea  and  gathers  its  own  kind  only — a 
narrow  kingdom,  debasing  whatever  it  touches,  catching  for  the 
purpose  of  holding  in  vile  captivity,  netting  and  ensnaring  that 
it  may  slay.  Thus  the  parable  is  more  than  it  seems  to  be.  It 
teaches  by  contrast  ;  it  has  a  far-spreading  edge  of  meaning.  In 
describing  truth  you  need  not  describe  falsehood  :  in  so  far  as 
your  description  of  truth  is  correct,  you  are  really,  in  the  most 
suggestive  and  graphic  manner,  describing  that  which  is  false. 

This  subtle  influence  of  colour  was  often  felt  in  Christ's  ministry. 
He  used  sometimes  to  speak  as  if  he  were  addressing  an  absent 
congregation.     Subtle  speaker,  wise  assailant,  he  was  addressing 


294         REVELATION  BETTER   THAN  CRITICISM. 

the  absentees,  they  thought,  till  they  thought  again,  and  then 
suddenly  they  said,  ' '  He  means  us. ' '  He  told  them  about  a  man 
who  had  a  property  in  the  distance,  and  sent  his  servant  to  gather 
the  fruits  or  the  revenues,  and  the  servant  was  not  received  well, 
and  another  servant  was  sent,  and  another,  and  last  of  all  he  sent 
his  son  also,  and  then  he  said,  ' '  What  will  he  do  to  those  husband- 
men ;"  and  they,  thinking  that  the  husbandmen  were  a  thousand 
miles  away,  said,  ' '  He  will  slay  them, ' '  and  suddenly  it  burst  upon 
their  obtuse  minds  that  all  the  while  he  was  talking  about  them. 
That  is  the  best  use  to  make  of  the  absentees. 

On  another  occasion  he  was  speaking  his  great  truth,  letting  it 
fall  where  it  might  be  applicable,  and  a  man  at  the  other  end  of 
the  table  said,  "  Take  care  :  in  speaking  thus  thou  revilest  us 
also, ' '  and  the  man  having  seized  the  hot  iron,  had  more  of  it  than 
he  covenanted.  It  was  thrust  into  him,  for  Christ  turned  and 
said,  "  Woe  unto  you  also,  ye  lawyers,"  and  in  that  also  he 
stretched  a  band  and  caught  another  set  of  offenders  within  its 
righteous  captivity. 

Let  us  learn  from  our  great  Prototype,  our  divine  Master.  We 
shall  fall  into  some  kind  of  dislike  and  criticism  mayhap,  still  let 
us  diligently  and  lovingly  put  our  feet  into  his  footsteps,  and  we 
shall  come  to  the  same  desirable  ends  as  to  our  great  spiritual 
mission  and  teaching. 

The  next  thing  that  strikes  me  in  reading  this  chapter  is  that 
the  great  teacher  did  good  rather  JDy  revelation  than  by  criticism. 
He  did  not  spend  his  time  merely  in  denunciation.  You  must 
have  a  higher  kingdom  to  offer,  if  you  want  to  make  a  profound 
and  permanent  impression  upon  the  age.  It  is  not  enough  to 
provoke  mere  antagonism  :  I  do  not  go  out  to  deny  any  man's 
propositions  or  contentions,  and  rest  myself  in  so  doing  :  if  I 
cannot  reveal  as  well  as  criticise,  I  am  as  a  bird  with  one  wing. 
Christianity  is  a  revelation,  a  surprise,  a  great  offer.  If  any  man 
have  a  gift  at  argument,  and  be  blest  or  burdened  with  the  genius 
of  contradiction  or  debate,  and  have  a  keen  desire  to  meet  people 
whom  it  would  be  well  to  avoid,  so  far  as  mere  social  contact  is 
concerned,  then  let  him  go  out  with  his  denials  and  contentions 
and  continue  his  debate  night  after  night.  He  is  a  greater  teacher 
who  has  a  kingdom  to  reveal,  a  positive  and  distinct  offer  of  grace 
to  make  to  men.     We  shall  be  unjust  to  the  genius  of  Christianity  if 


MATTHEW  XIII.  295 


we  treat  Christian  doctrine  as  a  mere  denial  of  some  other  doctrine 
rather  than  as  a  positive  and  grand  doctrine  of  itself. 

As  a  Church  what  have  we  to  offer  ?  With  what  do  you  seek  to 
lure  and  satisfy  human  nature  ?  It  is  the  glory  of  Christ  that  he 
makes  the  largest  offer  ever  made  to  the  nature  of  man.  His  offer 
goes  furthest,  addresses  more  faculties,  satisfies  more  aspirations, 
promises  greater  assistance,  than  any  competitive  doctrine  known 
to  men.  Consider  the  wholeness  of  his  kingdom,  how  it  spreads 
itself  over  all  the  life,  leaving  no  part  or  day  untouched  and 
unblest.  He  begins  with  childhood  and  writes  "  Kingdom  of 
Heaven"  on  the  fair  brow  of  the  little  one.  He  follows  the 
wanderer  out,  though  the  night  be  ever  so  dark.  I  never  knew 
darkness  keep  him  at  home,  or  wildness  of  weather,  depth  of  snow, 
or  keenness  of  frosty  wind.  The  moment  the  front  door  opened, 
and  the  prodigal  vanished,  he  says,  ' '  I  must  leave  you  and  go  out 
after  that  which  is  lost,  till  I  find  it,"  and  when  that  door  opens 
again,  it  will  open  to  let  in  two  men,  the  Seeker  and  the  man  who 
was  found. 

Christ  comes  into  the  house  when  the  sickness  is  there  ;  be  the 
sickness  ever  so  vile  ;  nothing  keeps  him  away.  Though  the 
poor  family  be  all  crowded,  ten  in  number,  in  one  room,  he  comes 
in  to  make  the  eleventh,  and  though  the  room  be  high  up  on  the 
roof  yonder,  he  finds  his  way  into  the  solitude  and  secrecy  of 
poverty.  He  comes  in  the  market-place  and  writes  codes  of 
laws  for  merchantmen  :  he  stands  behind  the  counter  and  writes 
with  that  wondrous  finger  the  great  laws  of  the  best  economy. 
When  it  becomes  a  question  of  the  last  wrestle,  the  challenge 
to  the  final  conflict,  he  says,  "  Fear  thou  not,  for  I  am  with 
thee. ' ' 

This  is  the  offer  which  Christ  makes  to  us  all ;  the  largest,  most 
ample,  minute,  detailed,  comprehensive,  that  ever  was  made. 
Other  creeds  meet  me  here  and  there,  other  kingdoms  are  partial 
in  their  revelations  and  applications,  clever  men  address  my  in- 
tellect merely,  sentimental  men  address  my  heart,  nearly  every 
teacher  has  some  little  thing  to  offer,  a  chain  of  two  links  to  put 
into  my  hand,  but  Jesus  Christ  alone  has  undertaken  to  deal  with 
every  part,  section,  phase,  and  issue  of  my  being,  and  I  am  bound 
to  respect  the  grandeur  of  his  challenge  and  to  respond  to  the 


296  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  TRUTH. 

magnificence  of  his  kingdom,  though  it  be  a  kingdom  at  present 
but  in  word  and  in  high  poetry.  Entering  it,  accepting  it,  Uving 
in  it  a  life  of  citizenship,  I  come  to  understand  that  it  is  indeed 
poetry,  because  it  is  truth,  without  which  there  can  be  no  poetry. 

In  the  third  place,  see  how  with  all  this  enchanting  and  start- 
ling originality  of  form,  Jesus  Christ  declared  eternal  truth. 
These  are  no  hot-house  plants  ;  these  are  not  mushrooms  a  night 
old.  Hear  Jesus  Christ's  explanation  of  the  parables.  He  spake 
unto  the  multitude  in  parables  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables, 
I  will  utter  things  which  have  been  kept  secret  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world.  These  are  no  new  lights,  these  are  no  new 
inventions  :  the  form  is  new,  the  doctrine  is  old.  This  is  not  the 
favourite  of  a  transient  age  ;  it  begins  with  the  unbeginning,  it 
covers  the  infinite  spaces,  it  antedates  and  postdates  all  human 
history.  Alpha,  Omega,  the  first,  the  last,  which  is  and  was  and  is 
to  come,  lifting  up  all  time  into  a  burning  present.  This  is  the 
secret  and  the  glory  of  Christ's  teaching  ;  flowers  are  grown  upon 
earth  under  which  are  the  everlasting  rocks. 

So  with  every  great  and  true  deliverance  and  revelation  of 
truth  :  it  must  be  old  as  well  as  new.  Make  as  many  parables  as 
you  please,  but  do  not  trifle  with  the  kingdom.  The  parables 
reveal  the  kingdom,  the  kingdom  is  older  than  the  parables,  and 
admits  of  all  kinds  of  pictorial  illustration  and  graphic  descrip- 
tion, and  to  the  end  of  the  ages  the  forms  under  which  we  present 
the  truth  will  change,  but  the  truth  itself,  like  its  living  Lord,  is 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

Might  I  speak  a  word  on  behalf  of  the  rising  ministry,  and  of 
men  who  do  not  put  the  truth  in  its  old  forms,  and  may  I  ask 
you  to  believe  that  it  is  possible  to  change  the  parable  without 
changing  the  integrity  of  the  kingdom  ?  We  do  not  preach  as 
Goodwin  and  Baxter  and  Bunyan  and  Owen  and  Howe  preached, 
as  to  mere  form,  but  we  try,  with  another  accent  and  with  another 
range  of  illustration,  not  better  than  theirs,  but  simply  other,  to 
set  forth  the  same  truth,  the  same  sin,  the  same  cross,  the  same 
blood.  The  ministry  is  one,  the  parables  are  a  million  in  number 
multiplied  by  ten,  but  the  kingdom  remains,   illustrated  by  the 


MATTHEW  XIII.  297 


advancing  culture  and  the  quickened  genius  of  ages,  itself  vener- 
able  as  eternity,  its  manifestations  new,  glittering,  and  gleaming  as 
the  dew  of  the  morning.  Do  not,  therefore,  be  harsh  with  your 
young  men  who  are  rising  to  preach  the  gospel  in  new  forms  and 
in  new  words  that  may  look  to  you  new-fangled  and  eccentric. 
The  great  fact  is,  the  kingdom  is  the  same,  and  the  illustrations 
show  not  that  we  are  divided  about  it,  but  that  we  are  simply 
bewildered  by  the  infinite  fertility  of  its  suggestion. 

You  know  what  all  this  means  in  the  lower  walks  of  progress. 
The  steam-engine  was  in  the  world  from  the  very  moment  of  the 
world's  existing — not  mechanically,  but  elementally — and  the 
elements  lay  there  age  after  age,  until  a  man  combined  them  and 
made  a  parable  of  them,  and  that  parable  was  reduced,  from  an 
invention  and  a  flash  of  genius,  into  a  fast-flying  locomotive. 
The  iron  was  in  Eden,  and  the  water  was  in  Eden,  and  the  fire 
was  in  Eden,  but  the  combination  and  inter-relation  of  these  had 
to  be  realised  long  ages  after  Eden  was  lost.  So  with  the  tele- 
graph and  the  telephone  and  all  your  modern  and  yesterday 
inventions  ;  elementally  they  were  all  there  when  God  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  earth  and  looked  upon  the  little  globe,  and  said 
in  heaven  concerning  it,  "  It  is  very  good."  The  ages  have  come 
and  perused  the  writing,  searched  into  the  treasure,  found  the 
operation  of  the  leaven,  and  now  the  ages  are  rich  ;  the  inventions 
are  new,  but  the  elements  which  they  apply  and  combine  are  as 
old  as  the  ribs  of  the  earth  and  the  central  fire  of  the  planet. 

So  with  all  your  music.  You  remember  that  John  Stuart  Mill 
was  afraid  that  the  time  would  come  by-and-by  when  there  would 
be  no  more  music  in  the  world,  that  the  seven  sisters  would  have 
done  all  they  could  for  the  world  ;  but  the  wondrous  seven  still 
go  on  ;  there  is  no  end  to  the  permutation  of  which  they  are  capable 
as  to  number  and  variety.  Yet  they  are  but  seven  ;  so  they  might 
sing  with  Wordsworth's  little  girl — only  they  never  part  company, 
they  never  die,  they  suit  themselves  to  all  the  suggestions  of  the 
fertile  brain  of  the  musician.  They  are  but  seven,  yet  they  stretch 
themselves  around  the  whole  sky,  and  sing  night  and  day,  and 
will  shut  themselves  up  in  the  prison  of  any  instrument,  to  be 
liberated  by  any  Moses  sent  of  God  to  emancipate  them  from 
their  silence  and  secrecy.  The  tune  is  new,  the  notes  are  very 
old  ;  they  were  heard  in  the  plash  of  the  first  rain,  in  the  con- 


298  THE  STRIFE   VF  TONGUES. 

cussion  of  the  first  lightning  and  thunder-storm,  and  in  the  song 
of  the  first  bird  that  sung.  So  they  come  on  and  on,  a  gospel 
infinite  and  endless  in  adaptation,  and  so  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
typified  by  all  these  parables.  The  kingdom,  let  me  repeat,  is 
eternal,  it  is  the  parable  only  that  is  changed. 

And  now,  in  the  fourth  place,  observe  how  the  most  astounding 
revelation  of  wisdom  and  power  cannot  save  the  revealer  from  the 
sneers  0/ vulgar  critics.  My  friend,  there  is  no  protection  for  thee  ; 
no  angel  can  hide  himself  from  the  strife  of  tongues.  There  is 
no  pavilion  upon  the  earth  in  which  thou  canst  hide  thyself  from 
the  vulgarity  of  those  who  are  determined  to  misrepresent  and 
abuse  you.  You  cannot  fight  with  prejudice,  you  cannot  answer 
a  whim  ;  no  argument  can  get  itself  thoroughly  round  a  merely 
personal  dislike.  If  you  have  made  up  your  minds  not  to  receive 
a  revelation  from  a  man,  if  that  man  be  God  himself  incarnate,  it 
lies  within  the  compass  of  human  malignity  to  nail  him  to  the 
cross.  If  you,  therefore,  are  speaking  for  human  applause,  you 
will  be  wounded  in  the  house  of  your  friends.  If  you  suppose 
that  the  grandeur  of  your  subject  will  protect  you  from  the  mean- 
ness of  your  assailants,  you  have  made  a  most  unwise  and  unfounded 
calculation.  Is  a  servant  more  than  a  master .?  If  they  have 
called  the  master  of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how  much  more  they 
that  are  of  his  household  }  Why,  in  little  and  insignificant  ways 
we  are  ourselves  subject  to  all  these  misrepresentations,  and  are 
the  victims  of  all  these  unreasoning  and  cruel  prejudices.  There 
cannot  be  any  one  of  you  who  has  a  message  and  an  individuality 
of  his  own  that  is  not  put  to  such  torture  as  lies  within  the  power 
of  such  critics  to  inflict.  What  did  Jesus  do  }  He  went  straight 
on  with  his  work,  he  spake  not  a  parable  the  less,  did  not  a  good 
deed  the  fewer,  patiently  went  the  round  of  his  ministry,  taking 
with  him  life,  light,  bread,  water,  comfort,  hope,  redemption, 
making  his  great  grand  offer  in  broad,  human,  divine  language  to 
the  sons  of  men. 

I  close  this  chapter  with  regret ;  I  entered  it  with  great  mis- 
giving. I  feared  these  parables,  but  as  I  entered  into  the  cloud  I 
heard  a  voice  saying,  ' '  Fear  not ;  this  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye 
him."  I  leave  it  now  as  a  man  might  leave  good  company  and 
high  fellowship.  It  is  a  gallery  of  divinely  painted  pictures,  it  is  a 
panorama   of  infinite   wonders,  it  is  intellectual    as  the  fifteenth 


MA  TTHE  W  XIIL  299 


chapter  of  Luke  is  moral.  I  feel  as  if  we  were  coming  down  a 
mountain  ;  and  whoever  left  a  mountain-top  but  with  reluctance  ? 
"  It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here  ;  let  us  build  three  tabernacles  ;" 
but  he  says,  "  No,  this  is  not  the  place  to  build  ;  if  you  have 
caught  the  oxygen,  if  it  has  got  into  your  blood  and  reddened  it, 
if  you  feel  the  mountain  air  stirring  your  pulses  and  lifting  up  your 
life  to  a  new  vigour,  go  down  into  the  valleys  and  use  vour  new 
life  for  the  good  of  others. 


LIX. 
THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  PARABLES. 

"  I  have  compared  thee,  O  my  love,  to  a  company  of  horses  in  Pharaoh's 
chariots." — Song  of  Solomon,  i.  9. 

IT  is  thus  that  love  multiplies  itself  by  many  images.  Love 
consecrates  all  things  beautiful  by  turning  them  into  symbols 
and  pictures  and  suggestions  of  its  own  idol.  There  is  no  end 
to  the  creations  and  appropriations  of  love.  Love  sees  the  image 
of  its  dearest  one  everywhere,  and  claims  it  as  its  own.  As  Jesus 
Christ  has  found  in  this  chapter  images  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
everywhere,  so  love  in  all  ages  and  in  all  places  has  created  for 
itself  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  and  has  given  a  new  reading 
to  all  the  things  therein,  and  has  thus  multiplied  the  literature 
which  no  eyes  but  its  own  can  accurately  read.  I  want  to  look 
at  the  power  of  fancy,  this  creative  and  symbolising  power,  this 
power  of  reading  the  inner  mysticism  and  ideality  of  things,  as  a 
Joy,  a  Danger,  and  a  Responsibility.  Let  us  look  at  it  first  as  a 
joy. 

In  finding  new  symbols  we  find  new  pleasures,  and  in  the  in- 
spiration of  our  love  we  turn  all  things  visible  to  new  and  sacred 
uses.  Love  turns  water  into  wine  at  every  feast  :  that  which  was 
a  miracle  at  the  first  is  a  commonplace  in  the  long  run  :  love 
widens  ever.  We  give  a  language  to  flowers,  we  make  the  stars 
talk,  we  turn  the  horses  in  Pharaoh' s  chariots  into  meanings  which 
the  proud  Pharaoh  never  saw.  We  make  business  itself  into  a 
religion,  and  write  upon  our  gold  an  image  better  and  purer  than 
the  image  and  superscription  of  Caesar.  This  love  embodies 
itself  in  all  things  lovable.  We  own  what  we  love.  We  have 
only  the  meanest  property  in  things  that  we  do  not  love.  Now 
this  is  the  joy  of  Christ  himself  in  this  thirteenth  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  by  Matthew.     The  object  of  his  love  was  the  kingdom  of 


MATTHEW  XII I.  301 


heaven,  and  day  by  day  he  compared  it  with  new  comparisons, 
and  so  gave  his  Church  the  treasure  of  his  parables.  Jesus  Christ 
said,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  hke  unto  .  .  ."  That  is 
the  entrance  to  the  great  picture-gallery,  the  great  paradisaic 
beauty  by  which  he  imaged  that  wondrous  and  immeasurable 
quantity.  Like  unto  a  sower,  a  goodly  pearl,  treasure  hid  in  a 
field,  a  hidden  haven,  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  a  net  cast  into  the 
sea,  a  king  travelling  into  a  far  country,  virgins  going  forth  to 
meet  the  bridegroom — by  so  many  images  did  he  make  plain  to 
us  that  manifold  kingdom  of  his. 

This  is  the  way  of  love  :  it  is  a  parable- making  power,  it  lives 
in  poetry,  it  delights  in  the  creation  of  new  images,  it  yokes  itself 
into  new  relationships,  and  calls  all  ministries  and  agencies  to 
yoke  themselves  into  its  chariot,  and  draw  its  chariot  forward  in 
triumphant  and  right  royal  progress.  Wondrous  in  this  way  have 
been  the  creations  and  adaptations  of  love.  Who  could  pluck  a 
little  rosemary  and  make  anything  of  it  but  rosemary  1  Love 
could.  Love  says,  ' '  You  shall  be  a  symbol  of  remembrance  and 
affection."  Thus  poor  Ophelia  gathers  to  her  madness  a  new 
pathos — she  plucks  and  gives  the  rosemary.  What  is  a  pansy  1 
Nothing  to  him  who  has  nothing  in  him,  but  to  the  man  who  has 
the  seeing  eye,  the  cunning,  all-interpreting  love,  the  pansy  is  the 
English  for  pemee,  the  French  thought.  So  when  I  cannot  tell 
you  all  I  want  to  say  I  slip  the  little  meek-eyed  pansy,  pensee, 
into  my  envelope,  and  you  read  all  the  meaning,  great  utterances 
of  heart  speech — you  understand  the  little  parable  of  the  pansy. 

The  timid  youth  whose  love  almost  chokes  him  when  he  is 
going  to  speak  it  does  not  know  what  to  do  till  the  florist  tells 
him  to  pluck  an  acacia  leaf,  and  he  says  to  him,  ' '  She  will  under- 
stand that  parable.  The  acacia  leaf  stands  for  platonic  love — the 
acacia  leaf  which  stands  for  such  love  does  not  admit  of  vulgar 
interpretation.  You  slip  in  the  acacia  leaf,  and  she  will  under- 
stand all  about  it. ' ' 

I  cannot  speak  to  my  friend  yonder,  bowed  down  with  a  thou- 
sand distresses,  burdened  with  affliction.  He  has  lost  again  and 
again  the  lives  he  loved  most,  and  his  life  is  now  a  process  of  grave- 
digging,  and  any  words  of  mine  would  but  augment  the  grief  which 
I  would  seek  to  alleviate.     But  I  am  cunning  in  the  use  of  floral 


302  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  FLOWERS. 

eloquence  ;  I  know  what  I  will  do,  I  will  pluck  a  sprig  of  amaranth, 
and  send  it  to  him.  When  he  sees  it  he  will  see  in  that  sprig  of 
amaranth  a  symbol  of  the  everlastingness  of  God,  the  immortality 
and  unquenchableness  of  the  true  life,  and  in  that  amaranth  he 
will  see  revelation  and  parable  and  sacred  vision.  When  I  cannot 
tell  all  my  affliction  to  my  dearest  friend  I  will  put  in  some  bitter 
aloes,  and  the  heart  that  receives  the  token  will  understand  the 
sad  sign. 

So  we  too  have  our  parables.  I  have  compared  thee,  O  my 
love,  to  a  company  of  horses  in  Pharaoh' s  chariots.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  sower,  like  unto  treasure,  like  unto 
a  goodly  pearl,  like  unto  a  net,  like  unto  virgins  going  forth  to  meet 
the  bridegroom.  My  love  hath  ten  thousand  images  and  symbols, 
infinite  jewellery  of  expression — who  then  can  be  poor  who  really 
loves }  If  we  loved  more  we  should  have  more.  This  is  the 
alchemy  that  transforms  the  base  into  the  real  and  intrinsically 
valuable.  Encourage  the  soul  in  its  love  of  beauty.  You  can- 
not go  too  often  into  the  garden  if  you  go  to  turn  every  flower  into 
a  speaking  angel.  It  will  be  a  dark  day  for  you  when  beauty 
ceases  to  talk  to  your  heart  and  preach  the  sweet  gospel  of  hope. 
Well  said  Festus,  "  Some  souls  lose  all  things  but  the  love  of 
beauty  :  by  that  love  they  are  redeemable,  for  in  love  and  beauty 
they  acknowledge  good,  and  good  is  God,  the  great  Necessity." 

Whilst  most  of  us  have  entered  somewhat,  or  at  {>ome  time,  into 
the  passion  of  this  rapture,  and  have  created  a  thousand  images 
and  symbols  by  which  to  typify  our  love  and  our  supreme  ambition, 
I  have  now  to  remind  all  such  that  not  only  is  this  power  of  fancy 
a  keen  and  thrilling  joy,  but  it  is  a  positive  and  an  immediate 
danger.  The  danger  arises  from  the  fact  that  we  may  consider  our 
duty  done  when  we  have  instituted  a  beautiful  comparison.  Our 
religion  may  perish  in  sentimental  expressions — ^>'0u  may  die  in 
words — you  may  say,  "  A  bundle  of  myrrh  is  my  beloved  unto  me  : 
my  beloved  is  unto  me  as  a  cluster  of  camphire  in  the  vineyards  of 
En-gedi."  Christ  is  the  Rose  of  Sharon  and  the  Lily  of  the  Valley 
— as  an  apple-tree  among  the  trees  of  the  woods.  We  may  see  him 
coming  out  of  the  wilderness  like  pillars  of  smoke,  perfumed  with 
myrrh  and  frankincense,  with  all  powders  of  the  merchantman, 
and  yet  our  love  may  pass  off  as  an  evaporation,  and  never 
embody  itself  in  one  act  of  sacrifice  or  in  one  attempt  at  service. 


MA  TTHE  W  XIII.  303 


That  is  the  danger  of  living  wholly  in  the  fancy,  or  largely  in  the 
higher  range  of  the  creative  faculties  of  the  soul.  We  may  create 
wit  for  the  laughter  of  others  and  forget  to  keep  any  of  it  for  the 
rejoicing  of  our  own  house.  The  danger  is  that  if  we  live  the 
parabolical  life,  contenting  ourselves  with  making  parables,  that 
we  may  never  advance  to  Gethsemane  and  Golgotha.  We  may 
create  a  kind  of  artificial  life  and  thus  miss  the  great  utilities  of 
our  being.  Not  the  heart  that  is  swiftest  and  surest  in  the  creation 
of  symbols  is  always  to  be  trusted  in  the  hour  of  pain  and  distress. 
This  love-sick  woman  in  the  Canticles  writes  her  own  condemna- 
tion as  the  victim  of  supineness  and  indolence.  How  lovingly 
she  yearns  over  the  absent  one,  how  she  charges  others  to  take 
care  of  him  and  watch  for  him,  and  yet  once  he  came  to  the 
door  and  knocked,  saying  "  Open  to  me,  for  my  head  is  filled 
with  the  dew,  and  my  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night," — he  was 
actually  at  the  door,  his  hand  upon  it,  his  voice  sounded  through 
it,  and  what  answered  she  ?  This  was  her  mean  reply.  ' '  I  have 
put  off  my  coat,  and  how  can  I  put  it  on  .''' '  See  how  great  is  the 
danger  of  the  fancy-power,  of  the  parable-making  faculty,  how 
possible  it  is  to  get  into  high  ecstasy  of  poetry,  and  to  forget  the 
courtesies  and  rigid  duties  of  life.  Says  she,  "  I  have  put  off  my 
coat,  and  how  can  I  put  it  on  .-'"  and  though  finally  she  roused 
herself,  and  put  on  her  coat,  her  beloved  had  withdrawn,  and  was 
gone.  She  called,  but  she  could  not  find  him,  she  sought  him,  but 
no  answer  came  back  thi  -.ugh  the  air,  and  the  watchmen  mocked, 
and  the  keepers  of  the  walls  joined  with  the  watchmen,  and  they 
smote  her  and  wounded  her,  and  tore  off  her  veil,  and  left  her — she 
who  was  wild  in  poetry,  so  grand  in  the  creation  of  high  sentiment 
— she  who  lay  in  the  midst  of  the  gardens  of  flowers,  and 
spoke  beautiful  things  about  her  absent  one,  saying,  "  I  have 
compared  thee,  O  my  love,  to  a  company  of  horses  in  the  king's 
chariot. ' ' 

There  is  then  a  great  danger  in  living  the  poetical  life.  You 
praise  your  parents — do  you  obey  them }  You  sentimental, 
rhyming,  filial  poet,  do  you  obey  your  venerable  father,  your  aged 
and  loving  mother }  I  do  not  ask  if  you  send  them  a  little  blank 
verse  now  and  then,  or  a  verse  of  rhyme — do  you  study  their 
comfort,  anticipate  their  wishes,  and  show  the  devotion  of  real 
sympathy,  gratitude,  and  love  }     I  have  heard  many  a  young  man 


304  THE  DANGER   OF  SENTIMENTALISM. 

talk  about  his  parents  in  polysyllables,  and  thus  make  a  fool's 
ineloquent  speech  about  them,  who  has  yet  not  had  the  grace  to 
obey  a  single  commandment.  Take  away  your  poetry,  eat  it  and 
choke  yourself  with  it — it  is  a  lie.  We  seek  for  one  poetry  only, 
and  that  the  blossoming  and  the  fragrance,  and  the  fruitfulness  of 
real  duty  and  obedience. 

There  is  also  another  danger  which  many  young  men  would  do 
well  to  take  heed  to,  and  that  is  the  danger  of  reciting  poetry  and 
living  prose.  Be  very  careful,  you  devotees  of  poetry  and  you 
reciters  and  treasurers  of  miles  of  jingling  rhyme,  take  care  that 
you  do  not  recite  your  poetry  and  live  your  sapless  prose.  It 
would  be  a  disastrous  irony,  it  would  be  the  most  perfect  and 
cruel  sarcasm.  Rather  on  the  other  hand  say  no  poetry  but  live 
much.  If  it  must  come  to  a  choice  of  one  or  the  other,  let  this 
course  be  mine  to  live  the  poetry,  to  prove  the  sublimity  by  many 
a  gentle,  loving  action.  If  I  can  unite  the  two  and  be  as  eloquent 
in  service,  so  be  it ;  but  if  the  one  only  can  be  adopted,  let  me 
urge  you  to  adopt  the  eloquence  of  loving  obedience  and  noble 
self-sacrifice. 

How  possible  it  is  to  sing  hymns  and  to  be  acting  blasphemies. 
It  is  possible.  Consider  that  for  one  moment,  because  at  the 
first  blush  it  would  seem  to  be  utterly  beyond  the  bounds  of 
possibility  to  sing  in  an  oratorio  and  then  to  act  dishonestly,  to 
sing  an  anthem  and  then  to  tell  a  lie,  to  utter  a  hymn  and  then 
to  perpetrate  a  cruelty.  The  poetry  is  at  the  wrong  end  in  such 
cases.  O  let  me  have  prose  climbing  up  into  poetry  and  not 
poetry  sinking  down  into  contemptible  prose  ;  see  to  it  that 
though  you  have  many  crucifixes  in  the  house  you  have  a  cross 
in  the  heart,  though  you  compare  your  beloved  to  a  company  of 
horses  in  Pharaoh's  chariot,  you  also  transfer  that  love  into  noble 
charity  and  sacrifice  and  sweet  service  which  will  benefit  mankind, 
as  well  as  enchant  their  fancy  and  please  their  literary  taste. 

Not  only  is  this  power  of  making  parables  and  comparisons  a 
joy  and  a  danger,  it  is  also  a  responsibility.  To  him  that  knoweth 
to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin.  If  the  Master  is 
beautiful,  so  must  the  servant  be.  Shall  the  Master  be  a  sweet 
rose  and  the  servant  a  stinging  nettle  .?  Is  that  not  very  often  the 
case }     Shall  the  master  be  a  fruitful  tree  making  the  city  glad 


MA  TTHE  W  XIII.  305 


and  the  servant  be  as  a  upas,  casting  its  deadly  shade  upon  all 
living  things  ?  Let  us  understand  that  every  compliment  we  pay 
to  Christ  is  an  obligation  we  lay  upon  ourselves  if  we  are  his 
faithful  followers.  Every  m.an  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth 
himself  even  as  he  is  pure,  that  is  the  sacred  law.  Having  there- 
fore these  promises,  dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from 
all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear 
of  God.  We  are  to  be  transformed  by  the  beauty  we  admire. 
This  is  the  great  law,  namely,  M'e  shall  be  like  him,  for — mark  the 
reason — ^we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  The  sight  will  be  transfiguring  : 
to  look  at  beauty  will  be  to  be  made  beautiful  ;  to  see  God  will  be 
to  be  made  divine,  the  fair  vision  shall  make  us  also  fair,  otherwise 
it  is  wasted  upon  us,  and  we  do  not  really  see  it.  It  will  be  im- 
possible to  see  Christ  as  he  is  without  being  transformed  into  his 
beauty.  But  do  we  not  all  see  Christ  as  he  is  when  we  come  into 
the  sanctuary .?  Far  from  it.  We  see  sections  of  Christ,  phases 
of  Christ,  we  hear  something  about  Christ,  but  we  do  not  see  the 
whole  Christ  in  the  absoluteness  of  his  integrity  and  the  ineffable- 
ness  of  his  beauty,  or  we  should  be  caught  in  a  transfiguring  and 
transforming  power,  and  the  very  visage  of  our  face  would  be 
changed. 

Here,  then,  are  abundant  lessons  for  us  all.  The  power  of 
comparison  is  to  be  cherished  and  developed.  Compare  your 
living  Saviour  to  all  things  beautiful,  make  every  flower  of  the 
field  into  a  parable,  the  summer  will  grow  too  few  flowers  to  set 
forth  all  his  beauties.  Go  out  this  coming  summer  and  attach  to 
every  flower  some  name  that  shall  indicate  some  beauty  in  your 
Lord  ;  watch  for  the  coming  stars,  and  according  to  the  beauty 
of  each  name  it,  and,  so  to  speak,  baptise  it  in  the  Lord's  name, 
that  when  you  see  it  again  it  may  remind  you  of  some  high 
ecstasy  of  the  soul.  All  that  is  wise,  beautiful,  legitimate,  it  gives 
ennoblement  to  the  mind  and  enlargement  to  the  whole  sphere  of 
the  imagination,  it  refines  and  elevates  the  taste  by  great  purifica- 
tion and  enrichment,  but  do  not  rest  there.  Not  every  one  that 
saith  unto  me  "  Lord,  Lord,"  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.  Are  we  not  all  witnesses  to  the  wasting  power  of  rapt- 
ure, to  the  enervating  reaction  of  high  rhapsody  in  any  service  ? 
Have  we  not  been  on  the  hill  of  transfiguration  and  desired  to 


3o6  THE  PRACTICAL  SIDE. 

build  tabernacles  there,  and  never  to  come  down  into  the  cold 
and  tumultuous  world  again  ?  Mark  the  danger.  Life  is  real, 
sad,  tragical,  a  great  daily  pain,  as  well  as  an  occasional  rapture 
and  a  high  realisation  of  the  noblest  intellectual  conceptions  and 
experiences. 

In  comparing  Christ  with  things  beautiful,  noble,  grand,  we  are 
writing  a  heavy  indictment  against  ourselves  if  we  profess  to  be 
his  followers,  and  do  not  rise  to  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion. 
Shall  we  be  found  in  the  king's  procession  who  have  about  us 
anything  that  is  mean,  worthless,  vile,  corrupting  ?  Shall  we  not 
make  it  our  endeavour  to  be  in  some  sort  worthy  of  the  royal 
procession  and  worthy  of  its  high  meaning  ?  Herein  is  the 
responsibility  arising  from  the  power  we  have  of  seeing  the 
beautiful  and  acknowledging  it.  This  is  our  calling  in  Christ 
Jesus  :  as  he  was  so  are  we  in  this  world.  Men  are  to  take 
knowledge  of  us  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus  and  have  learned 
of  him.  As  he  who  passes  through  a  garden  of  roses  brings  with 
him  part  of  the  fragrance  breathed  from  the  beauteous  flowers,  so 
we  who  come  forth  from  the  fellowship  of  Christ  are  to  show 
somewhat  of  the  radiance  of  his  countenance,  and  to  speak 
somewhat  with  the  eloquence  of  his  accent.  This  is  the  incarna- 
tion which  he  desires  at  our  hands,  not  only  to  compare  him  with 
things  royal  and  beautiful  but  to  incarnate  him  in  actions  more 
eloquent  than  the  pomp  of  speech  or  the  melody  of  music. 

Who  can  cdixry  out  that  high  vocation  ?  Who  would  not  rather 
sit  in  his  garden  and  make  parables  and  blow  them  from  the  pipe 
of  his  imagination  like  gilded  bubbles  into  the  summer  air  .'  That 
would  be  easy,  that  would  be  a  pious  luxury  ;  but  to  cut  off  the 
right  hand,  to  pluck  out  the  right  eye,  to  slay  the  inner  offence, 
to  test  the  soul  as  by  fire,  who  can  submit  to  this  inexorable  dis- 
cipline }  And  yet,  if  we  fail  here  it  will  but  go  to  the  aggravation 
of  the  account  against  us  that  we  have  compared  our  Saviour  to 
a  company  of  horses  in  Pharaoh's  chariot,  and  have  talked  about 
him  in  foaming  poetry,  but  have  lived  mean,  petty,  worthless 
lives.     The  God  of  the  heavens  give  us  wisdom. 


LX. 

HEROD  HEARS  OF  CHRIST. 
Matthew  xiv.  1-14. 

1.  At  that  time  Herod  the  tetrarch  heard  of  the  fame  of  Jesus, 

2.  And  said  unto  his  servants,  This  is  John  the  Baptist  ;  he  is  risen 
from  the  dead  ;  and  therefore  mighty  works  do  shew  forth  themselves  in 
him. 

3.  For  Herod  had  laid  hold  on  John,  and  bound  him  and  put  him  in 
prison  for  Herodias'  sake,  his  brother  Philip's  wife. 

4.  For  John  said  unto  him.  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  her. 

5.  And  when  he  would  have  put  him  to  death,  he  feared  the  multitude, 
because  they  counted  him  as  a  prophet. 

6.  But  when  Herod's  birthday  was  kept,  the  daughter  of  Herodias 
danced  before  them,  and  pleased  Herod. 

7.  Whereupon  he  promised  with  an  oath  to  give  her  whatsoever  she 
would  ask. 

8.  And  she,  being  before  instructed  of  her  mother,  said.  Give  me  here 
John  Baptist's  head  in  a  charger. 

9.  And  the  king  was  sorry  :  nevertheless  for  the  oath's  sake,  and  them 
which  sat  with  him  at  meat,  he  commanded  it  to  be  given  her. 

10.  And  he  sent  and  beheaded  John  in  the  prison. 

11.  And  his  head  was  brought  in  a  charger,  and  given  to  the  damsel  ; 
and  she  brought  it  to  her  mother. 

12.  And  his  disciples  came,  and  took  up  the  body,  and  buried  it  and 
went  and  told  Jesus. 

13.  When  Jesus  heard  of  it  he  departed  thence  by  ship  into  a  desert 
place  apart :  and  when  the  people  had  heard  thereof,  they  followed  him 
on  foot  out  of  the  cities. 

14.  And  Jesus  went  forth,  and  saw  a  great  multitude,  and  was  moved 
with  compassion  towards  them,  and  he  healed  their  sick. 

IT  must  not  be  supposed  that  Herod  had  not  heard  of  Jesus 
Christ  until  this  time,  but  at  this  particular  juncture  the  fame 
of  Jesus  made  a  new  impression  upon  the  ruler's  mind.  There 
are  some  hours  that  are  historical,  although  the  very  things  we 
remember  in  those  hours  have  not  been  unknown  to  us  or  even 
unfamiliar  to  us  aforetime.     Notice  the  kind  of  fame  which  Herod 


3o8  THE  PLACE  OF  MIRACLES. 

heard  of  Jesus.  Was  it  the  fame  of  his  eloquence  or  ihe  fame  of 
his  spirituahty  ?  Was  the  governor  struck  by  the  breadth  and 
grandeur  of  the  spiritual  conceptions  of  the  new  teacher  ?  Probably 
not.  What  struck  him  most,  and  therein  showed  the  vulgarity 
of  his  nature,  was  the  miracles.  Some  men  are  more  fascinated 
by  lightning  than  by  light.  Herod  heard  of  mighty  works,  grand 
wonders  and  astounding  signs,  but  it  is  not  said  that  he  had  heard 
of  the  beatitudes  and  revelled  in  sympathetic  appreciation  as  he 
listened  to  the  dripping  music,  the  sweet  pensive  words  which  fell 
from  the  lips  of  the  Teacher  on  the  mountain. 

It  is  even  so  to-day  :  we  do  not  see  men  in  their  grandest  point ; 
it  is  some  little  incidental  and  transient  thing  that  attracts  our 
vulgar  attention,  some  trick  of  manner,  or  tone  of  voice,  or  method 
of  assault  :  but  what  of  the  intellectual  purview,  the  spiritual 
unction,  the  groping  after  the  infinite,  the  passion  of  love,  the 
redeeming  care,  the  eternal  patience }  No  reference  is  made  to 
the  higher  qualities  of  men  until  long  after  their  ascension.  At 
first  we  talk  about  their  miracles,  their  prodigies,  signs  and  tokens, 
and  not  a  word  do  we  say  about  the  subde  process  that  has  in  it 
ten  thousand  miracles  of  insight  and  sympathy  and  eloquence  of 
the  heart. 

Mark  the  wisdom  of  Jesus  Christ  in  this  matter,  he  knew  how 
the  world  must  be  approached,  he  understood  the  value  of  col- 
lateral helps  such  as  miracles  ;  Jesus  Christ  never  intended  the 
miracles  to  be  continuous  in  the  Church,  because  he  knew  they 
would  soon  drop  into  commonplace.  Man  has  a  wonderful 
capacity  for  absorbing  miracles,  of  forgetting  the  last  wonder,  and 
of  asking  for  another.  Yet  miracles  have  their  place  ;  they  are 
great  trumpets  that  call  attention,  flashing,  dazzling  signs  that 
awaken  men  and  make  them  look,  and  whilst  they  are  looking, 
the  great  Teacher  seizes  his  opportunity  to  touch  and  bless  the 
inner  nature. 

What  have  we  been  in  these  matters .'  Mere  starers,  wrought 
upon  by  fancy,  the  victims  of  our  own  wonder  .?  Why,  what  is 
this  but  worshipping  idols  of  our  own  making,  bowing  down 
before  mean  things  of  our  own  fashioning  ?  The  call  to  us  is  to 
the  inner  sanctuary,  the  upper  chamber,  the  place  where  the 
Shekinah  shines.  We  are  stunned  by  miracles  ;  we  are  saved  by 
truth. 


MATTHEW  XIV.  1-14.  309 

Given  a  mighty  thought  and  a  mighty  deed,  to  know  which  will 
soonest  win  the  attention  of  the  world  and  secure  its  paltry  fame, 
and  the  deed  will  outrun  the  thought.  A  man  who  goes  into  a 
dangerous  place  or  takes  a  daring  leap,  or  does  some  act  of 
romantic  madness,  is  known  across  a  wider  horizon  than  the  man 
who  has  the  divine  gift  of  prayer,  and  who  can  work  the  all  but 
infinite  miracle  of  opening  the  door  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Who  heeds  thought  or  cares  for  sympathy,  or  adds  up  in  positive 
value  the  tears  that  flow  in  commiseration  over  human  distress  ? 
The  world  is  a  ready  reckoner,  quick  at  great  batches  of  figures, 
totalising  them  into  millions  that  fill  the  mouth  and  daze  the 
imagination  where  miracles  are  concerned.  But  where  thoughts, 
feelings,  impulses,  inspirations,  beatitudes,  commendations  of 
virtue  are  concerned,  where  is  the  ready  reckoning }  We  shall 
learn  better  by-and-by.  Keep  in  the  school  of  Jesus,  and  you 
will  learn  that  there  is  an  arithmetic  that  is  valueless  but  for 
momentary  convenience,  and  that  the  true  riches  are  within — that 
the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  a  quiet  spirit  is  in  the  sight  of  God 
of  great  price,  that  miracles  of  the  ordinary  kind,  such  as  are 
found  in  the  gospels,  are  but  introductory,  when  rightly  used,  to  the 
light  that  is  meant  to  shine  upon  the  mind,  and  to  lead  the  heart 
upward  into  the  great  mysteries  of  truth  and  fellowship  with 
God. 

Herod,  having  heard  of  the  fame  of  Jesus,  even  upon  the  com- 
paratively low  ground  of  miracles,  gave  an  explanation  of  what  he 
heard.  I  cannot  tell  how  many  hours  of  silence  preceded  the 
utterance,  but  the  utterance  itself  came  with  the  suddenness  of  an 
unexpected  shock.  Herod  said  with  startling  abruptness,  "  This 
is  John  the  Baptist. ' '  We  thought  his  name  had  been  forgotten. 
No  storied  marble  stood  above  the  headless  body  to  remind  the 
tetrarch,  no  brass  memorial  was  to  be  found  on  all  the  walls  of 
Herod's  palace  to  remind  him  of  the  death.  How  was  it  that  he 
knew  so  distinctly  the  name  of  the  murdered  man  }  Is  there  a 
recording  angel,  are  there  invisible  presences  dogging  our  steps 
and  whispering  to  us  unwelcome  words  now  and  again,  even  while 
the  wine  is  half-way  to  the  livid  lips  with  thirst  for  its  fire  }  Im- 
measurable life,  mysterious  life,  accursed  memory  !  Cain  took  to 
city  building,  he  will  fill  his  head  with  masonry  ;  still  the  dead 
man  looks  at  him  from  every  foundation  he  lays.      He  will  build 


3IO  THE  COMPLETENESS  OF  FAITH. 

high,  but  the  red  blood  incarnadines  the  topmost  mortar,  and 
oozes  upward  to  remind  him  of  what  he  once  did. 

Some  say  Herod  was  a  Sadducee,  and  we  know  that  the 
Sadducees  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection.  If  Herod  was  a 
Sadducee,  this  is  a  starthng  instance  of  the  power  of  truth  and 
fact  to  override  our  speculative  creeds,  tear  them  to  pieces,  and 
make  us  poor  indeed.  We  shall  know  the  value  of  our  creed 
when  the  last  pressure  is  put  upon  it.  It  is  one  thing  to  have  a 
creed  over  a  foaming  glass  of  wine  and  in  the  midst  of  a  smoking 
feast  when  gaiety  fills  the  house  and  loud  rough  laughter  is  the 
music  of  the  moment,  and  another  thing  to  have  a  creed  that  will 
go  with  us  through  every  hour  of  the  day,  through  every  wilder- 
ness, up  every  steep  and  rocky  place,  that  will  clutch  our  hand  in 
the  dark  and  say,  "  You  are  all  right  ;  walk  on,  and  I  will  take 
you  into  the  morning."  Herod's,  if  he  was  a  Sadducee,  was  a 
speculative  creed,  a  thing  that  pleased  the  mere  intellect  for  the 
time  being,  a  piece  of  rationalism  that  seemed  to  fit  the  occasion. 
When  this  great  tragedy  asserted  itself  in  all  those  bitter,  cruel 
memories  he  forgot  his  Sadduceeism  in  the  presence  of  an  accusing 
conscience. 

Search  your  creeds  through  and  through,  and  see  if  they  be 
faiths  that  will  carry  you  across  the  whole  bound  and  scheme  of 
life,  or  whether  they  are  little  transient  pleasures,  butterflies  that 
live  in  the  sunshine,  ephemera  that  die  in  the  beam  that  created 
them.  My  own  experience  deepening  every  day,  growing  painful 
in  richness,  is  this  :  no  faith  will  go  with  a  man  up  every  hill, 
through  every  valley,  into  every  pain  and  every  darkness,  and 
through  all  the  light  and  joy  of  life,  but  the  faith  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Son  of  God  and  the  only  Saviour  of  the  world.  Other 
faiths  please  me  intellectually  more,  for  a  little  time  suggestions 
coming  from  other  Masters  give  me  some  delight  within  given 
limits,  but  the  theology  of  Jesus  Christ  alone  fills  the  whole 
horizon,  and  is  equally  strong  at  every  point.  As  a  personal 
experience  let  this  go  for  what  it  is  worth  ;  if  your  experience 
coincides  with  it,  in  so  far  as  it  does  let  us  add  our  testimony 
together  until  the  witness  becomes  in  itself  a  second  gospel,  not 
a  gospel  of  revelation,  but  a  confirming  gospel,  setting  to  the 
gospel  of  revelation  this  seal,  that  we  have  proved  it  in  actual 
experience. 


MATTHEW  XIV.  \-\i^.  311 


Herod  felt  the  pressure  of  the  eternal  law  of  righteousness. 
There  was  one  sermon  he  did  remember — brief  as  a  lightning 
flash,  but  so  memorable  that  recollection  could  never  throw  it 
off.  Men  remember  different  kinds  of  sermons.  There  are  some 
sermons  we  try  to  forget,  and  fail  to  do  so.  Sometimes  the 
sermon  is  in  one  sentence  :  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  that  you 
should  approve  of  every  sentence  in  the  sermon,  or  like  the 
sermon  as  a  whole,  any  more  than  it  is  necessary  for  the  man 
who  sits  down  at  the  table  to  consume  the  luxuries  with  which  it 
is  loaded — he  may  refuse  this,  or  dislike  that,  but  there  is  enough 
to  satisfy  his  hunger,  and  in  that  satisfaction  his  contentment 
should  find  its  pleasure. 

If  you  had  interrogated  Herod  as  to  the  scope  of  the  ministry 
of  John  the  Baptist — in  what  relation  he  stood  to  the  ancient 
prophets  and  in  what  precise  relation  he  stood  to  the  coming 
Messenger,  to  the  Lord  himself — probably  Herod  could  have 
given  you  but  lame  and  imperfect  answers.  But  if  you  had 
asked  Herod  if  he  could  recall  one  thing  that  John  had  ever  said, 
he  would  have  recalled  something  that  was  not  addressed  to  the 
multitude,  but  that  was  shot  into  his  own  bad  heart.  He  never 
quoted  that  sermon  but  to  himself.  To  himself  he  preached  it 
probably  every  day. 

The  impression  made  upon  Herod's  mind  was  the  deeper 
because  John  was  know  to  him  as  a  good  man  and  a  just.  Our 
sermons  derive  force  from  our  character.  The  solid  noble  char- 
acter gives  weight  to  the  weakest  words.  A  lofty  and  pure 
consistency  utters  what  might,  from  a  literary  point  of  view,  be  of 
the  most  imperfect  sort,  with  an  accent  that  makes  it  eloquent. 
The  grim  ascetic,  the  stern  child  of  the  wilderness,  draped  in 
camel's  hair  and  fed  on  locusts  and  wild  honey — he  on  whom 
there  rested  no  spot  of  shame,  of  foulness  or  suspicion — said,  "  It 
is  not  la^vful  for  thee  to  have  Herodias  as  thy  wife."  Who  dares 
interfere  with  such  things  now .-'  No  man  of  my  acquaintance. 
What  preacher  dares  interfere  with  the  family  life  of  his  congrega- 
tion }  Not  one.  Are  there  not  families  that  would  absorb  whole 
libraries  of  consolation  who  would  resent  the  faintest  approach 
towards  rebuke  .''  If  the  preacher  sees  that  you  are  going  to  marry 
the  wrong  man  or  the  wrong  woman,  dare  he  interfere  .?  Only  at 
the  expense  of  his  head.     The  law  is  the  same  in  all  ages.     Sym- 


312  TELLING    JESUS. 


pathy  at  a  high  price,  judgment  and  rebuke  at  the  price  of  loss, 
neglect,  persecution,  martyrdom.  If  I  were  to  interfere  with 
your  marriages,  because  of  their  consanguinity,  because  of  their 
want  of  adaptation  and  proper  coincidence  and  rhythm,  what 
would  be  your  retort  ?  Imprisonment,  decapitation.  Not  in 
their  physical  forms — thank  God  we  have  outlived  that  vulgarity  ; 
but  where  is  there  a  man  who  dare  ask  if  the  weights  are  just  and 
the  balances  equal,  or  if  an  enemy  has  not  snipped  off  part  of 
the  yard  measure  1     No  man  dare  interfere  with  such  things  now. 

The  martyrdom  having  been  committed,  we  come  to  the  twelfth 
verse,  which  reads  like  the  bitter  music  of  despair,  ending  in  one 
troubled  hope.  Almost  every  word  of  the  twelfth  verse  throbs 
with  pathetic  suggestion.  "  And  his  disciples  came" — with 
heavy  feet,  with  heavy  hearts,  with  tearful  eyes,  with  great 
groaning,  with  wonder  that  might  at  any  moment  turn  into 
impiety  and  hard  talking  against  Heaven's  justness.  "  And  took 
up  the  body."  A  heavy  load,  yet  a  precious  burden  ;  took  it 
up  tenderly,  lifted  it  with  care,  a  body  that  had  never  known 
the  meaning  of  luxury,  self-care,  indulgence  ;  a  body  whipped, 
scourged,  mutilated,  held  in  severest  discipline,  every  member  of 
it  a  slave,  a  gospel  in  itself  of  abstention,  discipline,  severe  and 
inexorable  control.  Took  up  the  body — the  lips  gone,  the  eyes 
gone,  who  can  tell  what  was  being  done  with  that  head  }  When 
the  head  of  the  eloquent  Cicero  got  into  the  hands  of  Fulvia,  the 
woman  against  whom  that  eloquent  tongue  had  thundered,  she 
pierced  the  tongue  with  sharp  instruments,  that  she  might  avenge 
herself  upon  the  eloquence  she  could  not  answer. 

"Took  up  the  body."  It  was  all  that  was  left  them.  They 
buried  it — they  had  nothing  else  to  do  :  they  must  needs  hide  it 
away.  Give  me  a  place  that  I  may  bury  my  dead  out  of  my 
sight.  We  think  we  will  keep  the  dear  body  for  ever,  but  a  law, 
higher  and  more  inexorable  than  our  desire  in  such  matters,  says, 
"  The  time  will  come  when  you  will  say — '  Take  it  out  of  my 
sight.'  " 

Now  for  the  note  of  a  troubled  hope.  ' '  They  went  and  told 
Jesus."  He  was  always  hearing  calamitous  news.  When  did 
anybody  go  to  him  with  news  that  made  his  face  broaden  and 
brighten  and  glow  with  new  joy  .''      Whenever  the  door  of  the 


MATTHEW  XIV.  1-14.  313 

house  was  battered  by  an  importunate  hand  it  was  that  some 
sadder  tale  than  ever  might  be  poured  into  the  ear  of  Jesus.  If 
you  saw  a  woman  speaking  to  his  bent  ear,  she  was  pouring  into 
it  some  tale  of  woe.  If  you  saw  a  man  accosting  him,  it  was  that 
the  man  might  tell  Jesus  of  some  bitter  distress  at  home.  We 
could  not  do  without  that  hearing  ear. 

"  They  told  Jesus. "  To  tell  our  grief  is  something  :  to  put  our 
distress  into  words  is  to  get  relief.  We  can  tell  the  Saviour  every- 
thing ;  we  keep  back  no  syllable  of  the  tale.  You  would  be 
lighter  of  heart  if  you  would  tell  the  Saviour  everything  that  is 
giving  you  distress.  He  is  our  priest,  and  to  him  we  must 
confess.  Tell  him  about  your  difficulty  at  home,  your  trouble 
with  your  child,  your  perplexity  in  business,  the  distresses  for 
which  there  are  no  words — these  you  can  sigh  and  hint  at  in  your 
suggestive  and  eloquent  tears.  Let  there  be  no  want  of  con- 
fidence between  you  and  your  Lord.  It  is  not  enough  that  he 
knows  by  his  omniscience.  He  asks  us  to  tell  him  as  if  he  knew 
nothing.  Herein  is  the  mystery  and  the  grace  and  the  satisfaction 
of  prayer.  Though  the  Lord  knows  everything  we  are  going  to 
say,  he  entreats  us  to  say  it,  knowing  that  in  the  prayer  itself  is 
often  hidden  the  contentment  of  its  own  answer. 

What  effect  was  produced  upon  Jesus  Christ }  ' '  When  Jesus 
Christ  heard  of  it  he  departed  thence  by  ship  into  a  desert  place 
apart."  It  was  most  natural.  There  are  some  occurrences  that 
simply  make  us  quiet.  There  are  shocks  we  can  only  answer  by 
eloquent  dumbness.  He  departed  and  went  into  a  wilderness  :  it 
was  better  to  be  among  the  barren  sands  than  amongst  murderers 
and  most  cruel-minded  men.  There  are  times  when  we  are  all 
but  inclined  to  give  up  our  work.  Our  rain  is  lost,  our  dews  fall 
in  stony  places,  our  best  endeavours  are  returned  to  us  without 
echo  or  answer  of  joy  and  gratitude,  and  we  sigh  for  a  lodge  in 
some  vast  wilderness,  some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade.  This 
will  be  only  for  a  while,  however,  in  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ. 
"  When  he  went  forth  and  saw  great  multitudes  he  was  moved 
with  compassion  towards  them,  and  he  healed  their  sick."  He 
was  bound  to  come  back  again  :  the  sickness  would  have  a  greater 
effect  upon  him  than  the  murder.  He  will  not  relinquish  his  work 
because  of  instances  that  might  have  shocked  him  with  fatal  dis- 


314  A  MAN  GREATER  THAN  MAN. 

tress.  He  looks  upon  the  multitudinous  man  and  not  only  upon 
the  individual  mischief-doer  and  murderer.  He  was  the  Son  of 
Man,  Jesus  Christ  always  took  the  broad  and  inclusive  view, 
and  this  held  him  to  his  work  when  individual  instances  might 
have  driven  him  away  from  it  and  afflicted  him  with  fatal 
discouragement. 

It  is  even  so  we  must  look  at  our  work,  great  or  small.  If  we 
were  to  be  determined  by  the  action  of  this  man  or  that  we  should 
soon  abandon  the  work  and  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it. 
We  have  not  to  look  at  the  individual  stumbling-block,  at  the 
personal  fault-finder  and  heart-breaker,  we  have  to  look  upon  the 
multitude,  the  sum-total  of  things,  we  have  to  listen  for  the  uni- 
versal human  cry,  and  so  long  as  we  hold  ourselves  to  universals 
rather  than  to  particulars  we  shall  be  found  steadily  in  our  work. 
Now  and  again  we  may  be  in  the  wilderness  for  a  while,  shocked 
and  distressed,  mourning  with  a  great  sorrow  some  unlooked-for 
calamity,  but  as  upon  the  air  of  the  wilderness  there  come  the 
moan  and  sigh  and  wail  of  the  world's  sorrow  we  shall  go  out 
again  and  be  found  faithful  servants,  working  to  the  last  limit 
of  our  strength,  and  working  till  the  last  glint  dies  out  of  the 
fading  day. 

To  this  Jesus  let  us  cling,  to  this  Jesus  let  us  ever  more  go. 
Withhold  nothing  from  the  Lamb  of  God.  The  bitterer  our  tale 
the  sweeter  his  reply,  the  more  agony  there  is  in  our  prayer  the 
greater  grace  will  be  in  his  answer. 


LXI. 

MAKING  SUGGESTIONS  TO  CHRIST. 
Matthew  xiv.  15-21. 

15.  And  when  it  was  evening,  his  disciples  came  to  him,  saying,  This 
is  a  desert  place,  and  the  time  is  now  past  ;  send  the  multitude  away 
that  they  may  go  into  the  villages,  and  buy  themselves  victuals. 

16.  But  Jesus  said  unto  them,  They  need  not  depart  ;  give  ye  them  to 
eat. 

17.  And  they  said  unto  him,  We  have  here  but  five  loaves,  and  two 
fishes. 

18.  He  said.  Bring  them  hither  to  me. 

19.  And  he  commanded  the  multitude  to  sit  down  on  the  grass,  and 
took  the  five  loaves,  and  the  two  fishes,  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  he 
blessed,  and  brake,  and  gave  the  loaves  to  his  disciples,  and  the  disciples 
to  the  multitude. 

20.  And  they  did  all  eat,  and  were  filled  ;  and  they  took  up  of  the  frag- 
ments that  remained  twelve  baskets  full. 

21.  And  they  that  had  eaten  were  about  five  thousand  men,  beside 
women  and  children. 

ONE  cannot  but  be  struck  by  the  infinite  ludicrousness  of  the 
situation.  It  is  sadly  comical.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  re- 
ceive much  help  in  the  way  of  suggestion  from  his  disciples  ;  and 
when  they  had  come  forward  for  the  purpose  of  making  proposi- 
tions I  know  not  of  any  figures  more  strikingly  grotesque  and 
pitiable.  We,  however,  have  been  in  the  same  position  with  the 
disciples  sometimes.  In  those  hours  when  lucky  ideas  have 
occurred  to  us,  and  very  bright  suggestions  have  been  welcomed 
as  if  they  were  angels  from  heaven,  we  have  gone  to  supreme 
minds,  to  the  great  burning  and  leading  intellects  of  the  age,  and 
have  laid  before  them  our  neat  little  plans  for  meeting  urgent 
circumstances,  and  to  our  humiliation  and  bitterness  we  have 
found  that  the  suggestions  which  we  considered  startling  in  their 
originality  were  dismissed  twenty  years  ago  as  sophisms  that  would 
not  bear  looking  into.     It  is  dangerous  to  meddle  with  some 


3i6  THE  MOTH  AND  THE  CANDLE. 

minds.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living 
God.  It  is  infinitely  impertinent  to  make  suggestions  to  Omni- 
science. 

Look  at  the  disciples.  A  happy  idea  has  occurred  to  them, 
and  their  faces  are  flushed  by  its  fire.  They  are  benevolent  men, 
they  have  been  measuring  the  situation  with  their  calculating 
eyes,  they  have  seen  the  sun  westering,  they  have  felt  the  evening 
chill  in  the  wind,  and  they  have  thought  very  kindly  of  the 
numerous  people  who  were  in  the  desert  place,  and  as  if  their 
Master  had  been  absorbed  in  contemplations  supernal,  having  in 
them  nothing  of  care  for  the  present  life,  they  go  up  and  tell  him 
\fhat  to  do.  They  will  be  snubbed.  I  wonder  what  his  answer 
will  be  :  certainly  it  will  turn  their  counsel  upside  down,  whatever 
it  be. 

What  was  the  proposition  of  the  benevolent  men  .?  Surely  they 
spoke  one  word  for  the  multitude  and  twenty  for  themselves.  It 
was  evening,  and  they,  perhaps,  were  getting  tired,  and  they 
thought  to  hide  their  desire  for  rest  under  pitying  sympathy  for 
the  weariness  of  other  men.  Now  they  take  the  case  into  their 
hands  what  will  they  do  ?  Let  us  hear  them.  Perhaps  they  may 
speak  revelations.  "  Send  the  multitudes  away  into  the  villages 
that  they  may  buy  themselves  victuals."  That  is  the  world's 
benevolence,  that  is  the  conception  of  charity  in  many  cases  and 
in  nearly  all  cases  in  the  absence  of  the  inspiration  of  the  love  of 
Christ.  Pause  awhile.  Look  at  these  benevolent  men  ;  admire 
their  superlunar  benevolence  and  kindness  of  heart.  We  are 
glad  to  hear  them  speak  now  and  again  :  when  they  do  speak 
they  make  history.  They  spake  about  the  children,  and  said, 
"  Send  them  away  ;"  and  Jesus  said,  "  Suffer  the  little  children 
to  come  unto  me."  Hear  them  speak  about  the  multitudes,  and 
they  say,  "Send  them  away."  This — O,  hear  it — this  is  the 
grand  suggestion  of  the  servant :  what  will  the  command  of  the 
Master  be }  O,  little  moth,  silly,  silly  moth,  take  care  of  the 
candle  or  thy  wings  will  be  scorched.  Theological  suggesters 
and  preaching  men,  and  persons  who  have  theories  to  propound, 
take  care  lest  the  Master  overhear  you  and  account  you  the 
children  of  folly. 

How  much  better  to  have  gone  to  him  and  have  left  the  case  in 
his  hands.      It  is  always  wise  to  trust  Omniscience.      It  is  a  con- 


MATTHEW  XIV.  15-21.  317 


tinual  mistake  to  be  making  suggestions  to  Divine  Providence. 
Remain  where  you  are  :  Jesus  knows  when  the  sun  is  going  down, 
and  when  your  hunger  becomes  a  distress.  I  will  not  leave  the 
ground  until  he  bid  me  go.  In  his  presence  I  have  no  hunger,  no 
pain,  no  weariness  :  I  stand  here  till  he  says,  "It  is  now  time  to 
arise  and  go  hence. ' '  I  pray  you,  with  a  beseeching  of  the  heart, 
not  to  be  making  suggestions  to  Divine  Providence,  but  to  remain 
in  your  situations,  houses,  businesses,  and  present  relations  until 
he  give  the  sign  to  go.  Let  us  be  thankful  that  we  are  not  left  to 
the  devices  of  the  disciples  :  let  us  gladden  ourselves  with  the 
holy  and  inspiring  thought  that  the  Master  still  lives. 

How  will  Jesus  receive  this  suggestion  .?  Deferentially }  He 
never  did  receive  a  suggestion  from  the  disciples  with  the  slightest 
token  of  respect.  Once  one  of  them  said  to  him,  "  This  be  far 
from  thee.  Lord,"  and  he  said,  *'  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan." 
Another  time  they  said,  "  Take  the  children  away,"  and  he  said, 
"  Suffer  the  children  to  come."  Now  they  say,  "  Send  the  multi- 
tude away,  that  they  may  buy  victuals  for  themselves  in  the 
villages, ' '  and  he  says,  ' '  They  need  not  depart — give  ye  them  to 
eat."  How  musical  his  voice  sounds  after  their  rough  tones.  Put 
the  two  expressions  together,  and  see  the  infinite  discrepancy, 
"  Send  the  multitude  away,  that  they  may  go  into  the  villages  and 
buy  themselves  victuals. "  It  is  not  a  suggestion,  it  is  the  rudest, 
vulgarest  proposition  that  the  lowest  and  coarsest  minds  could 
have  made.  Now  hear  the  voice  that  holds  in  it  all  heaven's 
music — ' '  They  need  not  depart. ' '  That  was  the  revelation,  and 
that  is  true  of  human  life  in  all  its  points,  aspects,  bearings,  and 
necessities. 

You  need  not  go  out  of  the  Church  for  anything  that  is  really 
good  for  you.  When  will  the  Church  arise  to  this  conception  of 
her  responsibility,  and  to  this  realization  of  her  unsearchable 
riches  }  The  idea  which  presses  itself  upon  us  as  a  trouble  is  that 
people  imagine  the  Church  is  a  measurable  quantity,  set  up  for  the 
purpose  of  dealing  out  a  specific  article.  Is  there  bread  in  the 
Church  .'  There  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare.  Has  the  Church 
a  music  hall,  a  picture  gallery — does  the  Church  afford  opportuni- 
ties for  recreation,  for  intellectual  culture,  for  social  progress,  for 
the  consideration  of  ethical  commerce  .-'  If  the  Church  fail  in 
these  particulars  it  is  because  the  Church  has  been  misread,  not 


31 8  NO  ONE  SENT  AWAY. 

because  the  Master  occupies  a  solitary  point  and  leaves  the  rest 
of  his  universe  to  be  occupied  by  other  persons. 

What  do  you  most  need  ?  I  will  find  it  for  you  in  the  Church. 
You  need  not  depart  from  Christ,  for  whatever  you  want  he  has 
the  key  of  the  libraiy,  he  keeps  a  great  bread-house,  he  knows 
how  he  has  made  you,  your  love  of  art,  your  passion  for  music, 
your,  delights  and  your  comforts,  every  one  of  them  he  is  account- 
able for,  as  to  their  control  and  supply.  Let  me,  therefore,  protest 
against  any  theory  that  would  narrow  the  Church  and  dwarf  it  into 
one  amongst  many,  instead  of  making  it  many  in  one.  I  am 
aware  that  we  have  driven  away  so  many  people  from  the  Church 
into  the  villages  to  buy  victuals  for  themselves  that  we  shall  have 
a  good  deal  to  do  to  get  back  terms  and  phrases  which  ought 
never  to  have  been  divorced  from  the  altar,  and  when  they  do 
come  back  they  will  be  so  distorted  in  image,  and  so  vitiated  in 
use,  that  for  a  long  time  some  persons  will  protest  against  their 
being  used  within  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary. 

Where  are  our  hosts  of  young  people  now  ?  We  have  sent  them 
into  the  villages  to  buy  bread.  Where  those  that  were  weak  and 
faithless  of  heart,  weak  and  trembling  in  soul,  doubtful,  troubled 
by  infinite  unrest  of  heart  .^  We  have  sent  them  into  the  villages 
to  buy  bread.  We  were  only  too  glad  to  get  clear  of  them. 
Jesus  never  sent  them  away  :  as  they  were  going  he  said,  "  You 
need  not  depart. ' "  The  Church,  therefore,  must  bestir  herself  to 
a  realization  of  her  true  call  of  God.  I  want  the  Church  to  have 
many  mansions.  If  you  please,  the  mansions  need  not,  so  to 
speak,  overlap  one  another,  or  encroach  upon  each  other's  position 
and  special  meaning— but  in  my  Father's  house  there  should  be 
many  mansions,  and  no  man  should  be  allowed  to  go  away  because 
there  is  not  enough  for  him  at  home.  Build  the  Church  ten  times 
the  size,  stretch  its  hospitable  roof  over  all  things  that  can  feed  the 
best  nature,  and  charm  the  noblest  instincts  and  impulses  of  human 
nature,  and  do  not  narrow  and  impoverish  and  dwarf  yourselves. 

You  are  called  upon,  Christian  Churches,  to  supply  all  the 
'  necessities  of  the  world.  We  may  have  to  alter  old  habits  and 
modernize  ancient  methods  and  do  a  great  many  things  that 
appear  to  be  revolutionary,  but  I  would  write  upon  every  church 
jEront,  as  an  appeal  to  the  whole  public,  these  sacred  words — "  Ye 
need  not  depart."     Everything  that  man  can  need  for  his  healthy 


MATTHEW  XIV.  15-21.  319 

instruction,  edification,  culture,  and  perfecting  is  within  the  boun- 
daries of  Christ's  conception  of  his  own  Church.  The  time  will 
come  when  we  shall  not  need  to  modify  any  of  the  great  grand 
words  ever  spoken  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  mischief  is  that  a  cold 
age  wants  to  drag  down  the  reading  to  its  own  coldness.  I  say 
concerning  this  Book  of  marvels  and  most  astounding  miracles — 
let  every  line  stand.  There  are  coming  men  who  can  read  the 
Book  in  all  its  apocalyptic  wondrousness  of  suggestion,  colour, 
pomp,  and  music.  We  may  not  be  able  to  read  it  ;  our  ears  are 
filled  with  unholy  noises,  our  eyes  are  divided  so  that  we  cannot 
focalise  our  vision  and  fix  it  with  intensity  enough  upon  the  object 
to  see  its  real  beauty,  but  in  the  coming  time  there  are  generations 
that  will  be  able  to  read  the  Book  in  all  its  breadth,  and  we  must 
not  spoil  it  for  their  using.  Fear  not,  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  hath  power  to  open  the  Book,  and  in  an  infinitely  less 
degree,  but  not  wanting  in  healthy  and  noble  suggestion,  is  it  true 
that  hearts  are  coming,  brighter  minds,  nobler  souls,  who  will  be 
able  to  open  the  Book  in  its  true  sense  and  read  it  with  all  its 
magic  and  power  and  grandeur  of  suggestion. 

Do  not  drag  down  the  Book  to  your  present  coldness.  Do  not 
imagine  that  the  Book  is  about  to  accommodate  itself  to  the 
impoverishment  which  you  have  inflicted  upon  yourselves.  The 
miracles  stun  us  because  we  have  lost  the  power  of  grasping  them, 
but  when  materialism  goes  down  and  faith  rises  to  its  proper 
position  the  miracles  will  be  easy  reading  to  all  believing  souls. 
You  must  enlarge  the  idea  of  the  Church. 

"  They  need  not  depart — give  ye  them  to  eat."  You  never 
know  how  much  you  have  till  you  begin  to  give.  The  thing 
given  with  the  right  spirit  grows  in  the  giving.  You  will  find 
after  you  have  withdrawn  some  donation  from  your  store,  with 
a  good  motive  and  a  right  intent,  that  when  you  go  back  again 
to  the  store  it  will  have  returned,  and  in  your  secrecy  you  will  say, 
"  What  mystery  is  this,  when  I  have  given  the  money.?  It  was 
taken  out  to  be  given,  but  I  must  have  forgotten  to  convey  it." 
This  is  the  ministry  of  the  angels,  to  go  to  the  secret  drawer  and 
put  the  money  back,  to  watch  your  face  when  you  return  to  count 
what  you  expected  to  be  the  diminished  amount.  We  have  proved 
this  :  we  must  not  be  accounted  foolish  men  by  those  who  have 
not  entered  into  the  same  experience.     If  I  were  my  own  treasurer 


320  '' BRING  THEM  HITHER  TO  MEr 


1  should  be  poor  in  a  month  :  I  would  not  kno\f  what  had  been 
done  with  the  money.  But  taking  it  always  from  him,  in  the  act 
of  giving  it  to  him  it  grows  in  the  giving. 

Let  us  hear  those  wonderful  men  talk  again.  And  they  say 
unto  him,  "  We  have  here  but  five  loaves  and  two  fishes."  Did 
they  tell  the  truth  .?  No.  Did  they  distort  the  facts  }  No.  Is 
it  possible  to  state  a  fact  and  yet  to  keep  back  the  truth  .?  Per- 
fectly possible,  and  done  every  day.  Let  us  hear  how  much  they 
had.  Five  loaves  and  two  fishes — and  no  more.  Sure  1  What 
had  the  fools  forgotten  }  What  we  forget  in  all  our  misreckoning. 
Give  me  the  inventory  of  their  property,  will  you  ;  it  will  then 
read  thus  :  "  We  have  here  but  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  and 
God  and  Christ,  and  the  Miracle  worker  and  the  Creator."  What 
poor  inventories  we  return.  The  stationer  could  give  us  paper 
enough  for  our  inventories  ten  thousand  times  over.  We  give 
the  material  side  only  when  we  add  up  our  riches  ;  we  put 
down  the  loaves  and  the  fishes,  and  the  water  and  the  gold, 
and  the  silver  and  the  stones — but  what  about  ideas,  impulses, 
thoughts,  purposes,  burning  desires,  imperishable  capacities .'' 
What  about  the  immortality  that  stirs  within  us }  With  such 
omissions  your  inventory  is  not  worth  the  paper  it  is  written  upon. 
When  you  reckon  up  your  little  stock  to-night  do  not  forget  to  add 
at  the  foot  of  the  roll — "  and  Christ,  and  Providence,  and  my  Fa- 
ther in  heaven, "  and  you  will  lay  down  your  weary  head  as  a  mill- 
ionaire, multiplied  by  innumerable  millions  as  to  store  and  value. 

Jesus  said,  "  Bring  them  hither  tome."  He  was  not  disturbed 
by  the  number,  as  the  disciples  were.  \\\  their  hands  the  loaves 
would  have  been  only  five  and  the  fishes  would  have  been  only 
two,  but  in  Christ's  hands  the  stock  will  be  multiplied  into  a  great 
feast.  It  is  the  same  with  everything  we  have.  Let  us  take  up 
our  two  talents  to  Christ — we  shall  bring  them  back  two  hundred. 
Let  us  take  up  our  resources  to  Christ,  and  we  shall  come  back 
multiplied  into  an  army  that  cannot  lose  a  battle.  This  accounts 
for  your  non-success,  my  friends  :  you  are  using  your  little  store 
without  passing  it  through  the  all-multiplying  fingers  :  if  )'0u  were 
more  religious  you  would  be  more  successful. 

Now  this  is  a  miracle  which  does  not  appeal  to  the  imagination. 
Sometimes  the  rationalists  have  told  us  that  the  people  upon  whom 
the  miracle  was  wrought  were  simply  operated  upon  by  a  magnetic 


MATTHEW  XIV.  15-2I.  32I 

will,  by  a  higher  power  of  mind  than  their  own,  and  they  for  the 
time  being  became  the  happy  subjects  of  a  kind  of  magnetic 
action.  I  imagine  the  bread  had  no  imagination  to  be  wrought 
upon  :  it  would  appear  to  me  that  the  five  loaves  and  the  two 
fishes  were  not  subjects  for  the  operation  of  any  magical  art. 
Moreover,  the  whole  story  is  so  constructed  as  to  make  it  sternly 
literal.  "  Jesus  commanded  the  multitude  to  sit  down  on  the 
grass,  and  took  the  five  loaves  and  the  two  fishes,  and  looking  up 
to  heaven,  he  blessed  and  brake,  and  gave  the  loaves  to  his  dis- 
ciples, and  the  disciples  to  the  multitude."  Jesus  did  not  per- 
sonally give  the  bread  to  the  multitude — he  passed  it,  as  he  passes 
all  his  bread,  through  the  medium  of  ministries  and  servants  of 
his  own  appointing. 

It  was  more  than  a  mere  miracle  :  it  was  a  sacrament.  He 
made  a  religious  feast  of  it.  He  never  did  anything  secularly,  as 
we  use  that  cold  term — his  whole  life  was  religious,  his  very  breath 
was  a  prayer,  the  opening  of  his  eyes  was  a  revelation.  He  did 
nothing  without  his  Father.  We  should  have  larger  comforts  if 
we  had  more  religion  in  the  using  of  them.  Your  unblest  bread 
will  soon  be  done.  If  you  eat  animally  you  will  be  choked,  if 
you  eat  sacramentally  you  will  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare. 
Eat  with  contentment  of  heart,  with  a  sense  of  gratitude  and 
thankfulness  to  God,  as  the  guest  of  God,  and  the  host  will  see 
that  you  have  enough.  Do  not  spread  an  atheist's  table  that  you 
may  put  upon  it  venison  and  wines  of  all  famed  vineyards  :  you 
will  only  get  up  a  glutton  and  a  winebibber,  flushed  with  a  bad 
heat  and  satisfied  but  for  an  hour.  On  the  poorest  meal,  on  the 
simplest  engagement  of  life,  ask  the  heavenly  blessing — secretly 
or  audibly,  but  mean  it — and  sitting  down  to  your  little  table,  say, 
"  I  am  here  as  God's  guest  :  he  asked  me  to  sit  here,"  and  the 
feast  will  be  a  holy  sacrament. 

There  are  eternal  meanings  in  this  bread-giving.  This  is  the 
miracle  of  the  ages.  It  is  the  only  miracle  which  all  the  evan- 
gelists have  told,  and  there  may  be  a  purpose  in  this  unanimity  of 
record,  for  this  is  the  miracle  we  must  all  partake  of  or  we  cannot 
live — we  must  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 
'*  Except  a  man  eat  my  flesh  and  drink  my  blood  he  hath  no  life 
in  him."  This  is  the  true  bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven, 
of  which  if  a  man  eat  he  will  hunger  no  more.      Now  we  come  with 


THE  BREAD  OF  HEAVEN. 


our  little  dwarfing  expositions,  and  take  all  the  sap,  the  juice,  the 
wine  out  of  this  holy  growth.  We  will  ask  little  questions  about 
transubstantiation,  and  we  will  set  up  little  enigmas  and  miserable 
riddles  which  are  unworthy  of  the  Christian  imagination,  and  our 
religious  liberties  and  privileges.  This  is  not  a  question  of  tran- 
substantiation :  the  bread  does  not  pass  into  any  other  body  or 
substance  :  the  wine  is  wine  at  the  last  as  at  the  first,  and  no  magic 
can  change  its  nature.  And  yet  as  in  the  letter  I  feel  the  spirit, 
so  in  these  elements  of  bread  and  wine  my  heart  feels  that  it  is 
feasting  upon  the  living  Lord.  Do  not  ask  for  this  gospel  to  be 
reduced  to  words  :  I  ask  you  to  enlarge  your  words  to  receive 
this  gospel. 

Have  you  eaten  of  the  bread  sent  down  from  heaven — have 
you  drunk  of  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  .?  If  not,  you  have  no 
life  abiding  in  you.  Lord,  evermore  give  us  this  bread.  This  is 
the  bread  that  endureth  unto  life  everlasting.  In  my  Father's 
house  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger  :  I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father,  and  I  will  say  unto  him,  ' '  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am  no  more 
worthy  to  be  called  thy  son."  Have  you  challenged  him  with  a 
speech  so  eloquent  in  contrition .?  He  will  shake  the  heavens 
that  he  may  reply  to  you  with  the  enthusiasm  of  his  whole  house  ; 
his  angels  and  his  first-born  will  consider  it  no  humiliation  to 
gather  around  you  and  clothe  you  and  make  you  rich  with  all 
heaven's  wealth. 

Return,  return,  thou  hungry  wanderer  in  the  wilderness  :  thou 
needest  not  depart :  in  thy  Father's  house  are  all  mansions,  and 
there  is  a  resting-place  even  for  thee. 


LXII. 

REVELATION  BY  NIGHT  AND  DAY. 

Matthew  xiv.  22-36. 

22.  And  straightway  Jesus  constrained  his  disciples  to  get  into  a  ship, 
and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side,  while  he  sent  the  multitudes 
away. 

23.  And  when  he  had  sent  the  multitudes  away,  he  went  up  into  a 
mountain  apart  to  pray  :  and  when  the  evening  was  come,  he  was  there 
alone. 

24.  But  the  ship  was  now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with  waves  : 
for  the  wind  was  contrary. 

25.  And  in  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night  Jesus  went  unto  them,  walk- 
ing on  the  sea. 

26.  And  when  the  disciples  saw  him  walking  on  the  sea  they  were 
troubled,  saying,  It  is  a  spirit;  and  they  cried  out  for  fear. 

27.  But  straightway  Jesus  spake  unto  them,  saying,  Be  of  good  cheer ; 
it  is  I  ;  be  not  afraid, 

28.  And  Peter  answered  him  and  said.  Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  bid  me 
come  unto  thee  on  the  water. 

29.  And  he  said.  Come.  And  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of  the 
ship,  he  walked  on  the  water,  to  go  to  Jesus. 

30.  But  when  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid  ;  and  begin- 
ning to  sink,  he  cried,  saying.  Lord,  save  me. 

31.  And  immediately  Jesus  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  caught  him, 
and  said  unto  him,  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ? 

32.  And  when  they  were  come  into  the  ship,  the  wind  ceased. 

33.  Then  they  that  were  in  the  ship  came,  and  worshipped  him,  saying, 
Of  a  truth  thou  art  the  Son  of  God. 

34.  And  when  they  were  gone  over,  they  came  into  the  land  of  Gen- 
nesaret. 

35.  And  when  the  men  of  that  place  had  knowledge  of  him,  they  sent 
out  into  all  that  country  round  about,  and  brought  unto  him  all  that  were 
diseased  ;  . 

36.  And  besought  him  that  they  might  only  touch  the  hem  of  his  gar- 
ment ;  and  as  many  as  touched  were  made  perfectly  whole. 


324  THE  MOUNTAIN  AND    THE  SEA. 

IN  the  case  of  feeding  the  multitude  the  disciples  rashly  under- 
took to  give  advice  to  the  Master  ;  they  rushed  into  sacred 
and  forbidden  places.  Out  of  their  urgent  cleverness,  they  had 
evolved  the  suggestion  which  pleased  them  like  a  new  toy.  We 
have  seen  how  Jesus  Christ  treated  the  smart  ignorance  of  his 
shallow  counsellors,  and  with  what  mfinite  beneficence  he  con- 
founded the  notion  of  sending  anybody  away  from  himself  to  find 
anything  that  could  do  human  life  the  very  least  good. 

Now  the  scene  quite  turns.  Jesus  Christ  leaves  the  disciples  to 
manage  their  ship,  just  to  show  them  how  cleverly  they  can  do 
without  him.  They  wanted  to  take  the  bigger  case  into  their  own 
hands,  and  he  would  not  allow  them  so  to  do,  but  to  meet  them 
by  gracious  compromise  he  gives  them  a  ship  to  take  care  of,  with 
what  upshot  we  have  seen.  Thus  he  always  rebukes  clever 
meddlers  with  his  administration  ;  he  gives  them  something  to  do 
by  their  own  skill  and  power,  and  shows  them  by  many  a  disaster 
what  it  is  to  take  life  away  from  its  divine  centre,  and  to  conduct 
life  on  a  wrong  principle.  He  allows  us  to  make  little  experi- 
ments— well  for  us  if  he  be  looking  on  even  from  a  mountain 
top  whilst  we  make  them.  It  would  be  the  death  of  us  if  he 
turned  his  back  away  and  looked  otherwhere.  He  is  gracious, 
and  allows  us  to  work  our  own  cleverness  on  ft  small  scale,  that 
we  may  see  how  frail  we  are,  and  how  hollow  and  utterly  wanting 
m  all  comprehensive  and  grave  wisdom,  and  how  true  it  is  "  with- 
out me  ye  can  do  nothing."  He  is  allowing  you  now  to  conduct 
that  small  enterprise  of  yours  in  business.  You  will  come  to  him 
presently,  all  broken  in  pieces,  and  ask  him  to  reconstruct  you. 
Well  will  it  be  for  you  if  he  is  looking  on  from  a  mountain  top — 
he  will  gather  you  together  again  with  a  great  redeeming  grace 
and  gently  rebuke  you  for  undertaking  to  do  anything  by  yourself 
alone. 

Jesus  went  up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray.  We  wonder 
how  a  grand  outward  ministry  can  be  sustained.  The  answer  is 
simple  in  its  sublimity.  Every  outward  ministry  that  is  massive, 
life-taxing,  so  to  say  blood-drinking  in  its  fierce  demands  upon 
the  ministry,  is  sustained  by  mountain  climbing,  solitary  com- 
munion with  God,  the  nursing  of  old  gentle  mother  Nature,  and 
soul-fellowship  with  the  Father  of  all  life.  The  inward  man  must 
be  renewed  day  by  day  :  we  must  deepen  the  soil,  if  we  would 


MATTHEW  XIV.  22-36.  325 


enrich  the  crop.  If  the  Master  could  not  do  without  lonely 
prayer,  the  servant  surely  cannot  dispense  with  secret  devotion. 
It  is  not  enough  to  pray  aloud,  nor  is  it  sufficient  to  pray  in  com- 
pany in  the  language  of  common  prayer  :  we  must  know  the 
agony,  which  is  joy,  of  speechless  communion,  and  the  exquisitely 
tender  gladness  of  secret  fellowship.  We  must  be  closeted  with 
God.  "  Come  up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,"  said  the  Almighty 
to  Moses,  "  be  ready  in  the  morning  ;"  and  while  the  dew  was 
sparkling  in  the  hardly  risen  sun  they  held  great  speech  together, 
sublime  as  music.  O,  those  dewy  hours,  those  opening  moments 
of  the  day — what  conquests  may  then  be  won  ;  when  our  first 
interview  is  with  God,  we  cannot  fear  the  face  of  man.  Let  us 
look  at  the  scene  until  it  live  before  the  eyes  of  our  heart  for  ever. 

He  went  up  into  a  mountain.  No  traveller  accompanied  him, 
no  seething  multitude  made  the  air  hot  by  pressure  and  noise. 
The  great  wide  sky — how  wide  it  can  be,  let  the  poet  tell  me — 
opened  before  him  like  a  door  into  the  central  heaven,  where  the 
throne  is,  and  where  the  Shekinah  burned  as  if  glad  to  see  him 
back  again,  poor  without  him,  owing  all  its  blue  and  light  and 
tenderness  to  his  presence. 

What  can  be  so  hospitable  as  the  summer  sky  .?  Whilst  we  set 
our  figures  against  it  with  some  view  of  adding  up  in  totals  its 
height,  it  lifts  itself  with  infinite  dignity  above  the  standard  with 
which  we  were  about  to  estimate  it.  What  can  open  like  the 
sky }  Now  and  again  we  have  said,  "  How  light  it  is  :  how  truly 
beautiful,"  and  suddenly,  as  if  the  sun  had  heard  us,  he  answered 
our  challenge  by  a  broader  revelation  of  his  light,  that  cleansed 
the  earth  of  its  shadows  and  made  the  green  glitter  and  gleam  as 
if  with  new  and  unfathomable  life. 

Away  went  the  traveller — the  breezes  breathing  upon  him  like 
blessings  beforehand,  and  though  every  shadow  formed  itself  into 
the  suggestion  of  the  cross,  the  light  beyond  was  a  prophecy  of 
triumph  and  glory.  Always  look  to  the  light  as  well  as  to  the 
shadow.  Christ's  back  was  bent  as  if  by  a  burden  invisible,  yet 
he  lifted  his  head  with  kingly  dignity  and  moved  upward  like  one 
who  had  an  appointment  with  God.  He  went  up  into  a  moun- 
tain apart  to  pray.  Not  alone  to  recruit  his  bodily  strength,  not 
to  view  the  varied  and  enchanting  scenery.  He  went  to  church, 
he  sought  the  sanctuary,  he  yearned  for  the  infinite.     If  he  could 


326  CHRIST'S  PRAYER. 


not  do  without  going  to  church,  who  am  I  that  I  can  dispense 
with  attendance  upon  the  sanctuary  ?  I  am  but  a  fool  with  cap 
and  bells,  pleased  with  the  jingling  of  my  own  metal,  if  I  do  not 
go  to  church  to  fill  up  the  emptiness  which  nothing  else  can  satisfy. 

We  must  have  sanctuary  hours,  Sabbatic  times.  Herein  is  the 
wondrousness  of  that  word — "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to 
keep  it  holy. " '  The  word  holy  there  cannot  mean  anything  of  the 
nature  of  spiritual  sanctification  :  a  man  cannot  remember  any 
one  day  to  keep  it  holy  unless  he  keep  the  whole  time  holy. 
You  might  as  well  say,  "  Be  truthful  one  day  in  seven,  be  honest 
one  day  in  seven,  be  high-minded  and  pure  one  day  in  seven." 
It  cannot  be  done.  Holiness  is  not  an  entry  upon  a  register  :  a 
man  cannot  look  at  his  time-bill  and  say,  "  The  time  has  come 
round  for  me  to  be  holy."  So  with  this  church -going.  You 
cannot  go  to  church  on  Sunday  with  any  deep  and  living 
appreciation  of  its  opportunities  and  privileges  unless  you  are 
in  church  all  the  week  long.  The  church  is  not  a  separate 
building  you  can  enter  upon  particular  days  :  if  so  at  all,  it  is  so 
only  to  those  who  do  not  enter  into  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the 
occasion.  The  whole  world  is  sacred,  and  the  church  is  quiet. 
We  must  have  quietness  as  well  as  sacredness.  If  we  enter  church 
in  this  spirit,  we  shall  be  alone,  yet  not  alone,  for  the  Father  will 
be  with  us. 

Jesus  Christ  could  not  live  within  the  boundaries  that  could  be 
touched  :  he  yearned  for  the  infinite,  and  must  in  his  life  have  an 
outlet  towards  the  eternal.  Man,  I  will  not  discourage  or  lay  upon 
thee  one  straw's  weight  of  disapprobation  :  if  it  is  in  thine  heart  to 
grip  the  bigger  earth,  the  larger  place,  the  broader  liberty,  the 
unnameable  quantity — thou  art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

In  Jesus  Christ's  prayer  we  do  not  find  what  is  usually  known 
as  asking,  or  petition,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  That  is 
the  very  smallest  portion  of  prayer.  Prayer  was  communion  with 
God, — in  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ,  identification  with  the  Father, 
absorption  in  him,  communion  with  the  spring  of  all  being  and 
might.  The  begging  attitude  becomes  us  well,  but  we  must  not 
abide  in  that  posture  of  petition,  it  is  the  poorest  notion  of 
prayer  to  beg,  to  ask,  to  desire  that  the  right  hand  may  be  filled 
and  the  left  hand  be  filled  and  the  head  and  the  heart  be  filled — 


MATTHEW  XIV.  22-36.  327 


it  is  the  meanest  begging.  We  should  seek  to  be  one  with  God, 
we  should  enlarge  prayer  from  petition  into  fellowship,  communion, 
sympathy — then  may  we  hold  long  talks  with  God,  have  all-day 
speeches  with  him,  and  be  impatient  because  the  darkness  threatens 
to  punctuate  with  its  too  hasty  period  the  eloquence  of  his  com- 
munications. Rest  in  the  Lord,  wait  on  the  Lord,  hope  thou  in 
God — these  are  the  terms  which  express  the  completest  joy  of 
prayer. 

When  the  even  was  come,  he  was  there  alone.  He  was  often 
alone,  he,  was  always  alone — he  never  could  be  dualised.  When 
in  the  crowd  he  was  alone,  he  trod  the  winepress  alone.  He 
was  with  us,  yet  in  a  sense  not  of  us  :  he  sat  down  beside  us, 
and  yet  the  universe  separated  between  the  points.  Yet  in  one 
sense,  limited  by  convenience,  he  was  alone  on  the  mountain, 
though  all  the  angels  were  with  him.  The  evening  before,  five 
thousand  men  crowded  upon  him,  and  their  appeals  were  like  five 
thousand  arrows  quivering  in  his  heart.  He  was  then  the  centre 
of  humanity,  now  he  stands  alone  upon  the  mountain,  and  is  the 
centre  of  creation,  alone  as  he  was  before  the  world  began,  alone, 
gathering  strength  by  rest,  alone  because  solitude  is  needful  to 
the  completeness  of  the  soul's  education,  and  he  must  teach  us 
this  by  example. 

Jesus  Christ  went  up  into  the  mountain  for  our  sakes  :  if  he 
taught  us  to  pray,  he  taught  us  how  to  pray,  where  to  pray,  when 
to  pray.  We  must  have  our  times  of  withdrawment  if  we  would 
get  a  strong  hold  of  life  and  be  master  of  its  vexing  details.  Do 
not  always  be  in  the  crowded  streets  or  in  the  rush  and  noise  of 
tumultuous  throngs.  Five  minutes  every  day  alone  with  God 
would  make  us  more  than  conquerors  in  the  day  of  battle.  Fear 
yourselves  if  you  dare  not  be  alone  :  probe  into  causes,  when  you 
dare  not  take  a  lonely  walk — all  the  day  long  from  the  morning 
until  the  evening  ;  your  brain  is  unhealthy,  your  heart  is  unsound 
or  your  circumstances  are  of  a  nature  to  be  pitied,  if  you  fear  to 
go  up  a  mountain  alone  and  be  there  all  day  without  speaking  to 
any  human  creature.  Solitude,  religiously  used,  chastens  the 
soul,  fills  the  heart  with  heavenly  peace,  and  opens  the  mind  to 
the  daily  revelation  which  God  makes  to  those  who  love  him. 
We  have  times  for  eating,  times  for  sleeping,  times  for  recreation, 
why  not  have  times  for  communion  with  God  and  reading  deeply 


328  WALKING    ON   THE  SEA. 


the  mysteries  of  his  Word  ?  Time  spent  with  God  lengthens  and 
gladdens  all  other  time.  No  man  ever  lost  a  customer  by  being 
at  church  with  the  right  motive  and  with  the  right  spirit.  No 
man  ever  found  three-and-twenty  hours  in  any  day  of  which  one 
hour  was  given  to  the  worship  of  the  Father  of  spirits. 

Turning  now  our  attention  to  the  disciples,  we  find  that  their 
management  of  the  ship  was  a  poor  management.  The  ship  was 
now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with  waves,  for  the  wind  was 
contrary.  They  who  were  going  to  manage  the  multitude,  were 
unable  to  manage  their  own  ship.  Our  helplessness  ought  to  be 
the  basis  of  our  best  education.  If  we  cannot  manage  the  little 
how  can  we  manage  the  great .'  Thus  light  is  let  in  upon  the 
administration  of  the  universe.  If  we  are  in  trouble  with  one 
little  ship,  how  then  can  we  control  all  the  ships  of  the  sea,  all 
the  star-vessels  that  sail  through  the  infinite  firmament,  all  the 
hosts  of  men  that  gather  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  all  the  legions 
oi  angels  that  people  the  cities  above,  all  the  forces  that  burn  and 
throb  in  every  line  of  the  immeasurable  universe  .?  We  may  see 
how  great  the  Lord  is  by  seeing  how  little  we  are  ourselves.  The 
infinite  discrepancy  should  drive  us  to  the  use  and  security  of 
prayer. 

On  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night  Jesus  went  unto  them,  walking 
on  the  sea.  They  could  not  come  to  him,  so  he  went  to  them. 
They  must  know  what  it  was  to  be  away  from  Christ  ;  still  the  eyes 
of  watchful  pity  were  upon  them,  they  were  seen  from  the  moun- 
tain, they  were  in  an  enforced  and  undesirable  loneliness — 

"  .  .  .  .  Alone  on  a  wide,  wide  sea — 
So  lone  it  was,  that  God  himself 
Scarce  seemed  there  to  be. " 

No  such  loneliness  was  every  uttered  by  Coleridge  in  worthy 
terms.  That  was  not  solitude,  it  was  vacancy.  Distinguish 
between  those  terms.  They  were  not  alone  with  God,  they  were 
alone  without  God.     That  is  not  solitude,  it  is  emptiness. 

How  did  Jesus  Christ  view  the  tossing  vessel  and  the  fear- 
smitten  disciples  .?  With  somewhat  of  amusement,  knowing  how 
near  his  own  hand  was,  and  how  adequate  his  strength  }  Did  he 
think  of  what  had  occurred  a  few  hours  ago,  when  those  blundering 
navigators  proposed  to  deal    with  a  great   question   of  political 


MATTHEW  XIV.  22-Z6.  329 


necessity  in  the  wilderness  ?  Did  he  say,  ' '  This  will  show  them 
how  little  they  are  and  how  unworthy  to  meddle  with  the  ad- 
ministration of  vast  concerns"?  We  cannot  tell  what  were  his 
intellectual  processes,  but  his  heart  was  always  at  the  front,  his 
beneficence  seemed  to  outrun  his  judgment — so  he  went  unto  the 
panic-driven  disciples  when  they  were  tossed  on  the  sea. 

Jesus  went  unto  them  walking  on  the  water.  If  this  act  stood 
alone,  it  might  affright  us.  Do  not  read  the  miracles  as  if  they 
were  unconnected  events — any  one  miracle  will  terrify  you.  You 
must  read  every  miracle  as  part  of  some  greater  wonder  ;  then  it 
will  come  to  you  not  with  violent  and  mighty  shock,  and  over- 
throw you  by  irresistible  collision,  it  will  fall  into  the  rhythmic 
march  of  a  life  that  could  never  be  measured  by  the  figured  lines 
of  human  arithmeticians.  Yet  all  past  miracles  are  lost  upon  us  : 
we  must  have  a  present  miracle.  The  disciples  therefore  could 
not  live  upon  the  miracles  of  yesterday,  they  must  have  the 
miracle  of  that  very  particular  hour.  So  must  it  be  with  ourselves 
— we  cannot  live  upon  historical  wonders,  we  can  only  be 
nourished  by  daily  revelations  of  divine  power  and  continual 
manifestations  of  divine  care  and  love.  We  cannot  be  saved  by 
a  cross  eighteen  hundred  years  old,  viewed  in  the  mere  light  of 
history  ;  we  are  saved  by  a  cross  older  than  the  foundations  of  the 
earth,  yet  new  as  the  sin  of  this  present  evil  moment.  Jesus  Christ 
must  be  the  Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
and  slain  every  day  to  our  consciousness,  our  helplessness,  our 
burning  contrition  and  our  penitence  which  cannoi  answer  its  own 
bitter  prayers.  Life  is  a  continual  miracle.  The  bread  we  eat  is 
always  broken  by  divine  hands.  We  have  so  confused  and 
huddled  events  as  to  forget  their  right  succession  :  we  are  too 
frequently  content  to  stop  at  intermediate  causes  and  present 
agencies — were  we  to  search  back  the  bread  that  is  in  our  hand 
every  day  as  to  its  history  and  its  origin,  we  should  find  that  it 
was  broken  by  divine,  all-blessing  hands,  and  is  itself  a  miracle. 

The  disciples  were  afraid  when  they  saw  this  figure,  and  cried 
out,  saying,  "  It  is  a  spirit."  How  we  are  frightened  by  a  spirit  ! 
Whoever  was  quite  comfortable  even  with  a  supposed  ghost  ? 
Whoever  was  just  where  he  would  like  to  be  when  in  the  middle 
of  a  haunted  house,  without  a  man  within  a  mile  of  him  ?  Yet 
God  is  a  spirit  :  we  who  would  be  afraid  to  go  into  a  reputedly 


330  THE  TROUBLING    WORD. 

haunted  room  and  stop  there  alone  one  night,  cry  out  sometimes 
in  unbelief  and  foolish  questioning,  "  Why  does  not  God  show 
himself?"  God  is  a  spirit,  It  is  not  enough  to  see  the  figure: 
the  sight  is  often  misleading  :  so  the  ear  must  be  charmed — the 
voice  can  do  what  the  eye  fails  to  accomplish.  So  Jesus  said, 
*'  Be  of  good  cheer,  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid."  You  cannot  read  the 
sermon — you  must  hear  it.  Some  of  us  cannot  read  the  Bible, 
we  must  hear  it  read  by  a  sympathetic  voice  every  tone  of  which 
is  a  subtle  suggestion  or  a  profound  exposition.  The  eye  is  a 
deceiver,  and  is  deceived  every  day,  and  there  is  no  more 
mischievous  sophism  than  the  proverb  "  Seeing  is  believing."  So 
it  may  be,  but  what  is  seeing } 

The  ministry  of  the  human  voice  is  of  God's  appointment.  It 
charms  itself  mto  ineffable  colouring,  apocalyptic  variety  and 
suggestion,  it  booms,  it  whispers,  it  commands,  it  soothes,  it 
thunders  with  strength,  it  prays  with  piteousness  of  sympathy. 
The  gospel  therefore  is  given  in  charge  to  the  human  voice. 
Preach  the  gospel — it  never  can  be  read,  but  in  a  secondary  and 
introductory  sense  it  must  be  heard.  The  voice  of  Jesus  was 
recognized  when  his  figure  was  indistinguishable. 

Now  comes  the  great  If,  that  always  lay  in  Christ's  road  like  a 
preliminary  cross.  Peter  answered  the  Lord  and  said,  "  ^it  be 
thou. ' '  That  was  the  old  If — it  occurs  in  the  story  of  the  tempta- 
tion, early  in  this  same  gospel.  When  the  tempter  came  to  him, 
he  said,  "  ^thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these  stones 
be  made  loaves."  Now  the  senior  disciple  says,  "  I/'it  be  thou, 
bid  me  come  unto  thee  on  the  water. ' '  Beware  of  the  doubting 
I/.  Every  man  has  his  own  test  of  deity.  Peter  had  his  little 
test.  It  was  accepted,  and  Peter  shows  us  here  instinctively  what 
is  shown  in  every  day's  history  of  human  life,  properly  read,  that 
men  when  they  have  their  tests  accepted,  are  made  afraid  of  their 
own  tests,  and  sink  in  the  very  water  they  wanted  to  walk  upon. 
Beware  of  setting  tests  for  God  ;  be  on  your  guard  against  yielding 
to  your  own  cleverness  in  setting  traps  for  deity.  Sometimes  the 
Lord  may  accommodate  himself  to  our  absurdities  of  conception 
and  desire.  In  this  case,  when  Jesus  said  "  Come,"  the  prop- 
osition was  Peter's,  the  test  was  Peter's,  the  failure  was  Peter's  : 
he  was  afraid  by  the  very  manifestation  of  his  own  proofs,  and  ran 
away  from  his  own  test,  like  a  man  surprised  in  guilt. 


MATTHEW  XIV.  22-36.  331 


What  will  Jesus  do  ?  He  will  save  the  doubter  as  well  as  the 
despairer.  He  saved  the  whole  body  of  the  disciples  in  their 
despair,  he  will  save  the  single  disciple  in  his  doubting.  So  he 
must  save  us  every  day.  Every  day  plucks  me  from  the  yawning 
abyss,  every  day  I  have  the  same  mean  coward's  prayer  to  offer, 
**  Lord,  save  me,  or  I  perish,"  and  he  has  the  same  great  lordly 
reply  of  the  outstretched  and  all-redeeming  hand.  That  is  the 
image  of  human  life,  that  is  the  symbolism  of  our  daily  experience, 
our  continual  discipline,  crying  in  the  bitterness  of  despair,  being 
answered  out  of  the  fulness  of  infinite  love. 

Then  the  result — "  Of  a  truth  thou  art  the  Son  of  God."  So 
we  are  converted  every  day,  and  every  day  we  sin.  In  the 
morning  we  write  a  great"  If,"  in  the  evening  we  write  a  great 
creed.  We  never  read  yesternight's  creed,  we  always  begin  with 
the  morning's  great  I/. 

We  may  include  the  remaining  three  verses  of  the  chapter,  and 
say,  in  doing  so — see  how  Jesus  Christ  goes  to  work  again.  He 
entered  into  the  land  of  Gennesaret.  The  men  soon  had  knowl- 
edge of  him,  and  they  sent  out  into  all  that  country,  and  brought 
unto  him  all  that  were  diseased,  and  besought  him  that  they 
might  only  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  and  as  many  as  touched 
were  made  perfectly  whole.  Back  to  work  again,  on  the  mountain 
and  in  the  city — these  were  the  points  between  which  that  heart 
oscillated — longing  for  the  mountain,  drawn  to  the  city,  yearning 
for  communion,  yet  devoted  to  beneficence,  every  day  needing 
fellowship  higher  than  the  relations  of  earth  could  supply,  and 
every  day  going  down  the  mountain  again  to  pick  up  the  lonely 
one,  to  help  the  helpless,  and  to  redeem  with  mighty  heart,  even 
with  outflowing  of  sacrificial  blood,  every  son  of  Adam. 


LXIII. 

DEFILEMENT  SPIRITUAL  NOT  GERE- 
MONIAL. 

Matthew  xv.  1-20. 

1.  Then  came  to  Jesus  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  were  of  Jerusa- 
lem, saying, 

2.  Why  do  thy  disciples  transgress  the  tradition  of  the  elders  ?  for  they 
wash  not  their  hands  when  they  eat  bread. 

3.  But  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Why  do  ye  also  transgress 
the  commandment  of  God  by  your  tradition  ? 

4.  For  God  commanded,  saying,  Honour  thy  father  and  mother  :  and, 
He  that  curseth  father  or  mother,  let  him  die  the  death. 

5.  But  ye  say,  Whosoever  shall  say  to  his  father  or  his  mother,  It  is  a 
gift,  by  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be  profited  by  me  ; 

6.  And  honour  not  his  father  or  his  mother,  he  shall  be  free.     Thus 
have  ye  made  the  commandment  of  God  of  none  effect  by  your  tradition. 

7.  Ye  hypocrites,  well  did  Esaias  prophesy  of  you,  saying, 

8.  This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth,  and  honoureth 
me  with  their  lips  ;  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me. 

9.  But  in  vain  they  do  worship  me,  teaching  lor  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men. 

10.  And  he  called  the  multitude,  and  said  unto  them.  Hear,  and  under- 
stand : 

11.  Not  that  which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man  ;  but  that  which 
Cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man. 

12.  Then  came  his  disciples,  and  said  unto  him,  Knowestthou  that  the 
Pharisees  were  offended,  after  they  heard  this  saying  ? 

13.  But  he  answered  and  said.  Every  plant,  which  my  heavenly  Father 
hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up. 

14.  Let  them  alone  :  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.     And  if  the 
blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch. 

15.  Then    answered  Peter  and  said  unto  him.  Declare  unto  us  this 
parable. 

16.  And  Jesus  said.  Are  ye  also  yet  without  understanding  ? 

17.  Do  not  ye  yet  understand,   that    whatsoever  entereth  in  at  the 
mouth  goeth  mto  the  belly,  and  is  cast  out  into  the  draught  ? 

18.  But  those  things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  come  forth  from 
the  heart  ;  and  they  defile  the  man. 


MATTHEW  XV.  1-20.  333 

19.  For  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries, 
fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies  : 

20.  These  are  the  things  which  defile  a  man  :  but  to  eat  with  unwashen 
hands  defileth  not  a  man. 

NOT  often  did  Jesus  Christ  lose  his  patience,  but  when  that 
circumstance  did  occur,  it  was  marked  by  the  utterance 
of  very  memorable  words.  We  are  sometimes  warned  not  to 
provoke  quiet  men.  Nor  was  this  loss  of  patience  in  the  case  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  any  sense  one  of  mere  irritation  or  peevishness — 
it  was  rather  a  sense  of  moral  indignation.  The  answer  which 
he  made  to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  who  came  from  the  metrop- 
olis was  an  instance  of  high,  noble,  moral  resentment  :  it  was  not 
anger  of  a  merely  personal  and  selfish  kind,  it  was  a  grave  and 
solemn  judgment.  That  the  leading  men  of  the  day,  the  scholars 
and  the  clerks  of  the  time,  should  be  putting  such  trivial  questions, 
should  be  mocking  the  spirit  of  progress  by  such  frivolous  inquiries, 
should  be  making  such  mountains  out  of  such  molehills,  roused 
the  divinest  anger  of  an  earnest  soul. 

Consider  how  this  answer  of  the  Saviour  carries  with  it  some 
profound  suggestion  of  the  supreme  purpose  of  his  life.  He  had 
not  come  down  to  make  nice  things,  to  arrange  a  ritual,  to  propose 
encroachments  upon  a  ceremonial  descended  from  the  seniors — • 
he  came  to  save  the  world.  Hence  his  flashing  anger,  his  burning, 
scorching  retort  upon  men  who  wanted  to  bind  down  his  attention 
to  the  meanest  frivolities  that  could  engage  the  attention  of  the 
meanest  intellects.  From  his  answers  to  his  opponents  always 
learn  something  of  Jesus  Christ's  main  object  in  life. 

The  difference  between  the  Scribes  and  Christ  was  that  they 
lived  in  ceremony,  and  he  lived  in  truth.  Their  religion  was  a 
trick  in  ritual — all  religious  observances  and  duties  had  been 
reduced  to  a  mechanical  standard  and  arrangement.  With  the 
Son  of  God  religion  was  life,  spirit,  it  was  a  vital  principle,  a 
divine  inspiration,  a  continual  drawing  down  from  heaven  of  the 
energy  and  the  grace  needful  for  the  work  and  the  suffering  of  life. 
Observe  therefore  that  the  difference  between  them  was  not  literal 
and  measurable  in  words  ;  it  was  vital,  final,  and  indestructible. 

This  is  what  Jesus  Christ  has  to  say  to  all  opposing  parties.  He 
does  not  come  as  one  of  many,  saying,  ' '  Let  us  see  where  the  exact 
point  of  rest  is,   as  between  us,   controversialists  as  we  are,  each 


334        ALTERING  THE  RELIGIOUS  STANDPOINT. 


entitled  to  an  equal  hearing  with  the  other."  He  holds  no  parley, 
he  has  no  rivals,  he  makes  no  compromises — never  does  he 
approach  any  opponent  in  the  spirit  of  reconciliation.  Every- 
thing must  go  before  the  spirituality  and  the  splendour  of  his 
kingdom.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  proposed  a  quasi  friendly 
conversation  upon  differences.  Quoth  they,  "  We  do  thus,  and 
thy  disciples  do  so  ;  why  should  there  be  this  striking  difference 
in  our  ritualistic  practices  ^  Can  we  not  arrange  matters  better 
than  they  at  present  stand  ?  We  have  the  seal  and  the  sanction 
of  the  elders,  and  surely  something  is  due  to  seniority  in  the 
Church  and  in  the  ages.  Thy  disciples  are  guilty  of  what  appears 
to  us  to  be  a  violent  encroachment  upon  old  usages — let  us  talk 
the  matter  over."  Jesus  Christ  never  talked  matters  over  upon 
equal  terms.  Remember  this  in  considering  the  sovereignty  and 
the  completeness  of  the  claim  which  he  laid  to  the  attention  and 
the  confidence  of  the  world.  How  Jesus  Christ  might  have 
popularized  himself  by  compromise,  by  gracious  approach,  by  an 
attitude  of  conciliation,  by  suggesting  that  he  was  not  infallible, 
nor  was  he  above  receiving  a  hint  from  those  who  had  been  in 
the  world  before  him.  He  dominated  in  men,  and  therefore  over 
men.  No  other  domination  is  worth  having.  To  rule  over  men 
may  be  a  transient  supremacy  ;  the  true  rule,  the  everlasting 
primacy,  is  that  of  ruling  in  a  man,  in  his  thoughts,  feelings, 
convictions,  and  in  the  whole  range  of  his  noblest  nature. 

If  Jesus  Christ  were  with  us  to-day,  he  would  alter  the  religious 
standpoint  of  many  men,  and  thunder  upon  their  closed  ears  the 
solemn  words  that  Christianity  is  not  an  affair  of  meats  and  drinks, 
of  bell-ringing  and  magic,  of  church-going  and  hymn-singing,  but 
of  life,  love,  pureness,  sanctity  of  heart  and  completeness  of  con- 
secration. Cheap  indeed  is  the  religion  of  hand-washing.  Who 
would  not  wash  his  hands  all  day  long  as  the  price  of  heaven } 
"  A  man,"  says  Jesus  Christ,  "  may  wash  his  hands  all  day  long, 
and  in  every  act  of  ablution  he  may  be  adding  new  guilt  to  his 
heart. ' '  So  with  our  solemn  exercises  to-day — they  go  for  nothing 
except  according  to  the  inspiration  which  directs  and  ennobles 
them.  We  may  go  to  church  and  yet  not  be  there  at  all  in  spirit, 
sympathy,  fervent  and  vehement  desire  after  God.  Men  can  sing 
a  hymn,  and  in  the  singing  of  it  can  add  a  crueler  wrath  to  their 
hate.      ]\Ien  can  pay  pew-rent,    that    they  may  have    room    to 


MATTHEW  XV.  \-7.o.  335 

grumble  in.  What  doth  the  Lord  thy  God  require  of  thee,  O 
man,  but  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
God  ?  This  is  not  an  affair  of  hand- washing,  hair-combing, 
clothes-wearing,  attitude,  mechanism  or  manual  service.  The 
religion  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  condition  of  the  heart. 
What  a  man's  heart  is,  that  is  also  the  man  himself.  As  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he. 

Does  Jesus  Christ  then  do  away  with  all  outward  observances, 
with  church-going  and  with  hymn-singing,  with  religious  engage- 
ments and  duties  of  various  kinds .''  Most  certainly  not.  He 
approves  them  every  one,  if  kept  in  their  right  place.  "  You 
must  understand, ' '  says  the  Saviour,  * '  that  religion  is  not  an  affair 
of  mechanism  but  of  spirit,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  do  everj'thing 
that  is  written  upon  the  register  with  puristic  punctuality  and 
completeness,  and  yet  not  to  have  a  heart  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
sacrifice.  Where  the  heart  is  not  so  filled  and  ruled,  all  your 
bead-counting,  your  Paternosters  and  Ave  INIarias  go  for  nothing 
— they  beat  themselves  against  the  ceiling  under  which  they  are 
breathed:  they  never  touch  God's  distant  sky."  We  must  have 
our  Church  frame-work.  We  are  exhorted  not  to  forsake  the 
assembling  of  ourselves  together.  We  have  the  distinct  promise 
that  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together,  Christ  is  there  to 
bless  them.  We  have  Christ's  own  example  for  holy  rest  and 
honest  searching  of  the  Scriptures,  to  give  mutual  fellowship  in 
all  godly  concerns,  but  unless  the  whole  of  these  come  out  of  the 
heart  and  with  the  heart's  meaning  upon  them,  however  good 
relatively,  they  are  worthless  intrinsically. 

Well  for  the  Church,  even  a  day  of  triumph  and  coronation, 
when  nothing  more  can  be  said  against  it  than  the  metropolitan 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  said  against  the  disciples.  Is  this  their 
noble  impeachment  ?  does  their  charge  sharpen  itself  into  this 
piercing  question  }  What  a  mighty  assault — what  a  tremendous 
burst  of  feebleness.  Why  do  thy  disciples  transgress  the  tradition 
of  the  elders,  for  they  wash  not  their  hands  when  they  eat  bread  ? 
Have  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  metropolitan  and  provincial, 
of  our  own  day,  anything  graver  to  bring  against  us.  Some  charges 
answer  themselves  by  their  own  absurdity,  and  require  no  greater 
confusion  than  is  brought  upon  them  by  their  palpable  feebleness. 
How  is  it  with  the  Church  just  npw .?    . 


336  THE  CRITIC  CRITICISED. 


Mark  the  strength  of  the  Saviour's  reply.  This  man  brings  his 
answers  from  afar  :  in  his  arm  is  an  infinite  leverage — when  he 
strikes,  all  things  fall  before  the  fist  of  his  almightiness.  Hear 
the  piping  voice  of  the  metropolitan  critics — "  Why  do  thy  dis- 
ciples transgress  the  tradition  of  the  elders?"  Hear  the  solemn 
accusatory  retort — "  Why  do  ye  also  transgress  the  commaiidment 
of  God  ?"  Now  the  issue  is  sharply  joined.  That  is  exactly  how 
the  Church  ought  to  stand  in  all  ages.  The  world  may  be  able 
to  bring  against  the  Church  the  charge  of  not  attending  to  ancient 
usages  and  peculiar  ceremonies,  but  the  Church  ought  always  to 
have  it  in  its  power  justly  to  hurl  back  the  accusation  in  the 
tremendous  inquiry — "  Whilst  we  may  not  have  washed  our 
hands,  ye  have  steeped  and  soaked  your  hearts  in  the  devil's 
pollution."  We  must  not  use  the  words  in  the  absence  of  solemn 
proof.  We  are  only  now  indicating  the  ideal  state  of  things  and 
the  real  state  of  relations,  if  we  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  rather  than 
of  Jesus  Christ's  nominal  Church.  Whosoever  says  to  Jesus,  "  I 
think  I  find  an  omission  in  thy  teaching  and  practice,"  will  have 
for  his  answer  all  this  thunder  and  lightning  of  personal  accusation 
of  the  gravest  guilt.  That  we  might  be  able  to  return  such  a 
iu  quoque,  such  a  ' '  Thou  also' '  should  be  the  burden  of  incessant 
prayer. 

Consider  the  condition  of  the  metropolitan  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  when  they  heard  Jesus  Christ's  answer.  People  who 
find  fault  must  e.xpect  to  have  fault  found  with  them.  That  is  the 
one  thing  which  the  critic  always  forgets  ;  the  critic  always  forgets 
that  he  exposes  himself  to  criticism.  How  is  it  that  the  critic 
always  forgets  this .?  He  sits  at  his  desk,  he  reclines  in  his  pew, 
he  rests  on  his  pillow,  he  walks  his  garden  paths,  he  sits  under  the 
shadow  of  his  broad  trees,  and  shakes  his  head  in  sober  judgment 
upon  all  other  men,  forgetting  that  all  other  men,  did  they  think 
it  worth  their  while,  might  find  a  thousand  faults  where  he  could 
supply  a  thousand  actions.  It  never  occurred  to  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  from  the  metropolis  that  there  could  be  any  answer  to 
them.  Everybody  had  always  yielded  to  their  criticism  and 
judgment,  and  had  gone,  probably  with  secret  fee,  to  find  out 
what  they  ought  to  do,  from  the  great  interpreters  of  the  law. 
Here  is  a  Man  who  confronts  them  and  challenges  their  purity. 
They  thought  they  had  found  a  weak  place  in  the  armour  of  the 


MATTHEW  XV.  1-20.  337 


disciples,  and  having  pointed  to  the  open  crevice,  and  looked  as 
only  such  critics  could  look,  Jesus  also  put  forth  his  hand  and 
said,  ' '  Is  this  your  breast-plate  ?"  "  Yes. "  "  Why,  '  tis  a  rag  of 
tinder  ;  if  I  touch  it,  it  crumbles  into  black  dust. ' '  They  ought 
to  have  very  strong  and  complete  armour,  who  point  out  the  weak 
places  in  the  panoply  of  other  people. 

This  instance  illustrates  the  law  of  declension.  There  is  an  in- 
ward collapse  first, — a  re-installation  of  the  spirit  of  selfishness  ; 
and  then  there  is  an  attempt  to  find  in  framework  what  only  can 
be  found  in  spiritual  reality  and  completeness.  Men  keep  up 
the  framework  of  appearances  to  the  last  :  the  anxiety  of  many 
minds  is  to  save  appearances.  Jesus  Christ  never  attempted  to 
save  appearance  at  the  expense  of  truth.  Are  we  endeavouring 
to  keep  up  appearances  by  church-going,  by  continuance  in  cus- 
tomary ways,  by  habits  and  usages  for  which  we  have  really  no 
heart,  but  which  we  must  appear  to  respect,  or  other  people  will 
begin  to  imagine  the  real  state  of  our  spirit.?  The  Lord's  light- 
ning smite  all  mere  appearances  and  pretences.  We  are  killed 
by  our  pretensions,  when  they  are  not  supported  by  an  inward 
reality.  What  are  we  in  our  heart — what  is  our  meaning,  what 
our  purpose  ?  These  are  the  vital  questions  which  men  must  put 
to  themselves  and  answer,  if  they  would  have  real  depth  of  life 
and  healthiness  and  enjoyment  of  being. 

This  answer  was  indeed  a  long  thunder-storm.  The  clouds 
were,  so  to  say,  gathered  from  distant  skies.  Not  content  with 
merely  accusing  them  of  violating  the  commandment  of  God,  he 
said,  ' '  Well  did  Esaias  prophesy  of  you. ' '  There  are  men  who 
are  anxious  to  find  out  when  prophecy  terminated  :  they  are  most 
eager  to  discover  the  precise  points  upon  which  the  prophecy  took 
effect,  and  was  accomplished,  and  became  like  a  gate  shut  because 
the  king  had  passed  on.  Jesus  Christ  gave  terrific  applications 
of  prophecy  again  and  again.  Turning  upon  the  leading  men  of 
his  age  he  said,  "  You  are  meant  when  Esaias  said,  '  This  people 
draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth  and  honoureth  me  with 
their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me. '  "  When  we  are  search- 
ing into  apocalyptic  visions  and  suggestions,  and  are  digging 
deeply  into  prophetic  mines  and  are  wishing  to  know  when  times 
and  seasons  accomplish  themselves,  it  may  be  well  to  remind  our 
own  hearts  that  probably  Jesus  would  fix  the  great  moral  accusa- 


338  THE  RIGHT  READING   OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tions  of  prophecy  upon  us.  Whilst  we  are  seeking  to  read  some 
difficult  hieroglyphic  and  to  apply  some  marvellous  suggestion  or 
combination  of  dates  to  some  pope  or  king  or  mighty  warrior, 
Jesus  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  and  say,  ' '  Thou  fool,  when  the 
prophet  thunders  against  wrong,  all  his  thunders  beat  upon  thine 
own  head." 

Surely  this  plan  would  give  us  a  new  scheme  of  Bible  reading, 
and  instead  of  making  enigmas  and  finding  Napoleon  the  Greats 
and  mighty  popes  distant,  some  dead  and  some  coming  a  thousand 
years  hence,  we  should  feel  that  the  prophets  foresaw  our  day,  and 
laid  up  for  our  guilt,  the  judgments  of  God. 

"  Ye  hypocrites."  Other  men  called  them  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, Rabbi,  Lord,  Master,  Great  One,  Prince.  Looking  at  them 
as  he  only  could  look,  he  said,  ' '  Ye  hypocrites. " '  That  was  plain 
speaking.  Jesus  Christ  could  make  no  progress  in  society  unless 
he  spoke  with  the  utmost  plainness  of  words,  which  nobody  could 
possibly  misunderstand.  We  make  no  advancement  because  we 
are  the  victims  of  euphemism — that  is,  a  style  of  speaking  which 
calls  things  by  their  wrong  names — bad  things  by  good  definitions, 
and  which  covers  over  the  evil  with  a  handful  of  stolen  flowers. 
You  must  get  at  the  very  core  of  the  disease  if  you  are  to  make 
any  progress.  Not  that  we  are  to  call  one  another  hypocrites,  for 
that  would  lead  but  to  mutual  recrimination  of  the  severest  and 
most  unprofitable  kind,  but  no  man  can  call  his  brother  a  hypo- 
crite without  possibly  exposing  himself  to  a  just  retort ;  but  we 
are  to  remember  that  God  sees  us  as  we  are  :  we  are  to  be  faithful 
with  ourselves  :  instead  of  calling  other  people  bad  names,  we  are 
to  attach  the  right  label  to  our  own  actions  and  not  to  shrink  from 
the  solemn  fact  that  our  life  is  often  based  on  a  lie  and  directed 
to  the  consummation  of  the  hypocrisy.  When  men  talk  thus,  it 
may  be  roughly,  but  with  solemn,  urgent  plainness,  to  themselves, 
we  may  have  some  hope  that,  feeling  the  acuteness  of  the  disease, 
they  may  be  impelled  to  cry  to  heaven  for  the  remedy. 

Jesus  Christ  does  not  change  the  subject  when  he  proceeds  to 
tell  the  multitude  what  the  true  law  of  defilement  is.  He  found 
the  age  imagining  that  what  a  man  took  into  him  defiled  him  . 
Jesus  Christ  said,  "That  is  not  the  law  of  pollution" — Jesus 
Christ  laid  down  this  grand  law,  that  no  man  can  defile  another  ; 
every  man    defiles  himself.       ' '  Away  then  with  your  trumpery 


MATTHEW  XV.  1-20.  339 

excuses,"  he  would  say,  "as  to  circumstances  and  conditions 
and  contagious  surroundings.  That  law  will  bear  amplification 
into  the  fuller  law  that  no  man  can  injure  another  permanently  ; 
it  is  the  man  alone  who  injures  himself.  As  no  man  can  defile 
you,  so  no  man  can  injure  you  in  any  profound,  vital,  and  lasting 
sense.  You  may  indeed  have  much  thrown  at  you  that  is  of  a 
nature  most  disagreeable — you  may  be  defiled  outwardly — so  you 
may  be  encountered  by  misrepresentations,  sneers,  harsh  criticisms, 
untrue  and  vile  aspersions  of.  every  kind — but  they  do  not  touch 
the  man.  When  you  are  really  injured,  you  have  injured  yourself. 
There  is  no  case  of  man-slaughter,  in  the  higher  region  of  inter- 
pretation, but  there  are  innumerable  cases  of  suicide.  You  are 
not  defiled  by  your  circumstances,  by  the  conversation  you  hear, 
by  the  duties  you  may  be  compelled  to  undertake,  you  are  defiled 
when  you  have  in  you  a  mean  thought,  a  bad  desire,  an  ignoble 
impulse,  a  motive  that  will  not  bear  the  scrutiny  of  light." 

Cheer  ye  then.  Fear  not  any  assault  and  battery,  any  fierce 
assault  by  which  others  would  seek  to  drag  you  down  :  it  is  as 
the  beat  of  a  bird's  wing  against  the  eternal  granite.  A  man  may 
be  wrong  in  opinion  yet  right  in  heart.  When  this  doctrine  is 
accepted,  the  Church  will  enter  upon  a  new  era  of  influence.  I 
am  not,  of  course,  speaking  of  moral  opinion,  but  of  opinion  of  a 
speculative  kind,  even  speculative  opinion  upon  speculative  sub- 
jects. The  Church  too  eagerly  embarks  in  speculative  controversy, 
and  cannot  support  her  conduct  by 'our  quotation  from  her  Lord. 
Even  speculative  opinion  is  not  to  be  undervalued.  So  long  as 
it  is  held  as  opinion  and  not  forced  upon  men  "as  final  dogma  or 
infallible  proposition,  it  may  be  held  with  advantage. 

As  to  moral  questions,  there  must  be  no  light  assumption  of 
opinion.  There  must  not  indeed  be  two  opinions  upon  moral 
questions — there  our  understanding  must  with  one  another  be 
unanimous,  complete,  without  halt  or  reservation  of  any  kind  what- 
ever ;  but  upon  those  questions  which  are  speculative,  doubtful, 
let  us  have  charity  one  with  another.  Let  us  take  care  that  no 
wrong  uses  are  made  of  speculative  opinion  :  it  may  be  made  a 
standard  of  orthodoxy  and  heterodoxy,  and  men  may  be  ostracised 
and  condemned  and  undervalued  and  suspected,  and  may  be 
open  to  all  kinds  of  social  disaster  because  of  their  speculative 
opinions  upon  purely  speculative  questions.      I  would  wish  my  own 


340  HO IV  TO   CHANGE   THE  HEART. 

course  to  be  this  :  to  have  a  heart  thoroughly  at  one  with  itself  as 
to  God's  moral  requirements,  the  hideousness  of  sin,  the  abomina- 
bleness  of  iniquity,  the  beauty  of  righteousness,  the  necessity  of 
sanctity  of  heart.  Upon  all  such  questions  there  must  be  no  dis- 
pute, no  compromise,  no  trilling  or  tampering.  When  I  enter 
into  other  regions  of  the  Holy  Book,  I  desire  to  be  quiet  where  I 
cannot  speak  wisely,  to  accept  with  modesty  where  I  cannot 
explain  with  a  luminousness  equal  to  the  mystery  I  undertake  to 
elucidate.  God  allows  me  to  ask  questions,  to  make  propositions, 
and  to  change  my  mind  oftentimes  in  the  course  of  one  day 
respecting  opinions  and  matters  which  are  either  speculative  or 
are  too  high  for  me.  He  judges  me  by  the  condition  of  my  heart  : 
where  it  is  broken,  contrite,  penitential,  he  will  not  rebuke  me 
because  of  the  poverty  or  the  erroneousness  of  my  speculative 
opinions.  Were  Jesus  Christ  amongst  us  now,  he  would  surely 
set  a  fire  upon  all  those  controversies  which  divide  and  sunder 
men,  about  things  as  relatively  unimportant  to  his  central  purpose 
as  was  the  washing  of  hands  to  the  commandment  of  God. 

Now  comes  the  solemn  question,  vital,  final,  all-inclusive. 
Seeing  that  Jesus  Christ  attached  such  value  to  the  condition  of 
the  lieart,  how  is  the  heart  to  become  such  as  he  will  accept } 
He  himself  must  do  the  whole  work  herein.  The  cleansing  of  the 
heart  is  from  on  high,  and  is  by  the  mysterious  process  of  blood. 
Do  not  think  of  blood  in  any  low,  common,  or  merely  physical 
sense  of  the  term.  The  blood  of  Christ  means  more  than  the 
mere  blood  of  the  body  •'  that  was  its  needful  symbol  ;  without 
that  shedding  of  blood  we  could  have  got  no  hint  of  the  higher 
meaning  of  the  great  and  tragical  type  of  its  quality  and  reality. 
We  are  saved  by  blood,  we  are  redeemed  by  blood  ;  without 
the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission.  We  have  erred  in 
the  life,  and  only  by  life  can  we  be  saved.  Life  for  life,  blood 
for  blood.  We  made  the  tragedy  necessary  :  had  we  sinned  skin 
deep,  some  skin  deep  remedy  would  have  been  found  for  us,  but 
having  sinned  in  the  soul,  having  collapsed  in  the  inner  sanctuary 
of  the  nature,  having  done  wrong  with  the  innermost  thought  of 
our  heart,  nothing  can  meet  the  infinite  collapse  but  God's  sacrifice 
of  himself  in  his  Son.  You  are  not  saved  because  you  can  explain 
this,  but  because  you  believe  it.  I  am  not  asked  how  I  account 
for  my  salvation,  I  am  saved  because  of  my  faith  in  the  Son  of 


MATTHEW  XV.  1-20.  341 


God.  If  it  has  pleased  God  to  make  this  revelation  of  the  method 
of  acceptance  as  between  himself  and  me,  it  is  not  for  me  to  find 
critical  fault  with  the  terms,  or  to  make  a  metaphysical  puzzle  of 
a  grand  moral  proposal,  but  to  fall  into  his  hands,  and  to  await  the 
explanation  as  the  ages  of  eternity  unfold  themselves,  and  give 
opportunity  for  profounder   study  of  divine  things. 

The  disciples  were  not  as  the  master.  They  came  to  him  and 
said — so  like  them  it  was,  for  even  his  disciples  formed  part  of  his 
disfigurement  and  humiliation  :  he  was  betrayed  by  the  very  men 
whom  he  elected  to  the  discipleship — they  were  to  drag  him  down, 
they  were  to  form  the  elements  and  materials  of  some  of  the 
bitterest  mockery  that  was  heaped  upon  him.  They  came  and 
said,  "  Knowest  thou  that  the  Pharisees  were  offended,  after  they 
heard  this  saying .?"  Just  what  is  said  to  faithful  ministers  to-day. 
Who  does  not  hear  that  offence  was  given,  that  this  man  or  yonder 
woman  was  never  coming  to  church  again  because  of  this  saying 
or  of  that }  What  does  the  poor  minister  do  }  I  would  that  we 
might  follow  the  Lord,  who  said,  when  he  heard  about  the  offended 
Pharisees,  "  Every  plant  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not, 
planted  shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them  alone  :  they  be  blind 
leaders  of  the  blind,  and  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall 
fall  into  the  ditch."  He  had  given  offence,  and  when  told  about 
it,  calmly  stood  upon  the  rock  of  the  divine  election,  and  found 
peace  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  divine  defence. 


LXIV. 

CHRIST   SURPRISED  BY  FAITH. 

Matthew  xv.  21-31. 

21.  Then  Jesus  went  thence,  and  departed  into  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon. 

22.  And,  behold,  a  woman  of  Canaan  came  out  of  the  same  coasts, 
and  cried  unto  him,  saying.  Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Lord,  thou  Son  of 
David  ;  my  daughter  is  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil. 

23.  But  he  answered  her  not  a  word.  And  his  disciples  came  and 
besought  him,  saying,  Send  her  away  ;  for  she  crieth  after  us. 

24.  But  he  answered  and  said,  I  am  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel. 

25.  Then  came  she  and  worshipped  him,  saying.  Lord,  help  me. 

26.  But  he  answered  and  said.  It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 
bread,  and  to  cast  it  to  dogs. 

27.  And  she  said.  Truth,  Lord  :  yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which 
fall  from  their  master's  table. 

28.  Then  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  O  woman,  great  is  thy 
faith  :  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.  And  her  daughter  was  made 
whole  from  that  very  hour. 

29.  And  Jesus  departed  from  thence,  and  came  nigh  unto  the  sea  of 
Galilee  ;  and  went  up  into  a  mountain,  and  sat  down  there. 

30.  And  great  multitudes  came  unto  him,  having  with  them  those  that 
were  lame,  blind,  dumb,  maimed,  and  many  others,  and  cast  them 
down  at  Jesus'  feet  ;  and  he  healed  them  : 

31.  Insomuch  that  the  multitude  wondered,  when  they  saw  the  dumb 
to  speak,  the  maimed  to  be  whole,  the  lame  to  walk,  and  the  blind  to  see  : 
and  they  glorified  the  God  of  Israel. 

OUR  Lord  is  now  touching  upon  half-heathen  countries,  and 
about  to  give  forecasts  of  his  universal  empire.  Up  to  this 
time  he  has  moved  within  given  geographical  limits,  now  he  looks, 
and  almost  steps,  over  the  dividing  lines.  It  belonged  to  the 
religious  genius  of  Matthew  in  particular  to  see  beyond  Hebrew 
boundaries,  and  to  note  every  sign  of  the  universality  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  Matthew  who  brought  the  Magi 
from  the  far  east  with  their  presents  of  gold    and  frankincense 


MATTHEW  XV.  21-31.  343 


and  myrrh.  A  man  like  Matthew  could  not  have  omitted  that 
incident  from  his  stor}'-,  though  the  other  evangelists  take  no 
notice  of  it.  Not  St.  Luke  but  St.  Matthew  notes  the  case  of 
the  Canaanitish  woman.  Matthew  is  a  silent  man  ;  there  was 
next  to  nothing  said  about  him  :  again  and  a^^iin  he  shows  us  in 
his  noble  Gospel  how  great  and  noble  were  the  thoughts  that 
moved  and  ruled  his  mind.  There  is  nothing  little  in  Matthew's 
conception  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  does  not  beat  off  the 
men  from  the  far  east,  saying,  ' '  You  have  nothing  to  do  with 
this  birth  ;"  nor  does  he  rebuke  the  Canaanitish  woman — he 
rather  rejoices  in  those  openings  which  show  him  light  through 
their  welcome  rents,  and  Matthew  says  in  effect,  "  This  Master 
of  mine  shall  rule  from  the  east  to  the  west,  from  the  north  to  the 
south,  and  his  house  shall  be  large  as  his  universe."  Who  knows 
but  that  as  Mary  was  the  mother  of  Jesus  in  the  sense  of  bringing 
him  into  the  world,  so  this  Canaanitish  woman  may  be  the 
mother  of  Christ  as  introducing  him  into  Gentile  lands  .-' 

It  is  thus  that  individual  names  are  lifted  up  in  importance,  and 
that  small  events  are  charged  with  infinite  meaning.  We  know 
not  what  shall  be  the  limit  of  the  Amen  to  this  prayer  of  hers. 
This  supplication  may  mark  the  agony  of  a  birth  time.  Jesus 
Christ  is  now  very  near  the  dividing  lines  :  will  this  Canaanitish 
woman  succeed  in  taking  him  over  the  boundary,  and  bringing 
to  Gentile  necessity,  and  sin,  and  pain,  all  the  sweet  gospel  of 
heaven  .?     Let  us  see. 

The  woman  was  both  right  and  wrong,  in  her  simple  prayer. 
That  indeed  may  be  said  about  all  our  prayers, — mostly  wrong, 
however,  in  many  instances.  Her  prayer  was  conceived  in  the 
wrong  name,  in  this  instance  arising  no  doubt  from  her  courteous 
recognition  of  historical  facts,  but  she  appealed  to  the  Son  of 
David.  By  no  such  narrow  name  can  Jesus  enter  into  Gentile 
lands.  If  Christ  was  not  more  than  the  Son  of  David,  he  had 
no  message  to  heathen  countries.  Mark,  therefore,  how  the 
story  develops  the  life  and  purpose  of  the  Holy  Christ.  How 
keenly  the  Saviour  listens  to  every  word  that  is  addressed  to 
him,  and  note  how  he  will  not  answer  prayers  in  the  lump 
and  gross,  and  how  he  will  come  to  the  human  heart,  along 
certain  defined  lines.  There  is  no  roughness  in  his  method, 
there  is  no  tumultuousness  in  the  plan  of  this  all-redeeming  and 


344  NOT  SON  OF  DA  VID  ONL  V. 

all-healing  Christ.  When  addressed  by  a  Gentile  suppliant  as 
"  Son  of  David,"  he  is  deaf.  In  other  instances  Jesus  Christ 
had  readily  answered  prayers  that  were  addressed  to  him  as  Son 
of  David,  but  the  prayers  in  those  instances  were  spoken  by  Jews. 
A  Gentile,  as  such,  knows  nothing  about  the  Son  of  David  ;  some 
greater,  broader  name  must  be  found,  and  what  know  ye'but  that 
now  he  will  take  upon  him,  in  some  sense  hitherto  not  ade- 
quately realized,  a  name  that  shall  enter  into  every  language,  and 
be  at  home  in  the  prayers  of  the  whole  world  ? 

Jesus  Christ  answered  the  woman  not  a  word.  In  truth  she 
had  not  spoken  a  word  to  him  in  his  proper  capacity.  There 
were  some  things  which  Jesus  Christ  could  not  do  in  his  hereditary 
capacity  or  merely  local  and  ancestral  name.  There  were  divi- 
sions of  kingdoms  and  properties  which  he  could  not  attend  to. 
Men  must  be  brought  to  learn  the  exact  scope  and  purpose  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  world.  We  know  what  it  is  amongst 
ourselves  for  men  to  be  limited  in  their  official  capacity  :  they 
can  do  certain  things  for  us  in  their  personal  capacity  which  they 
could  not  do  in  their  official  function.  As  officers  they  cannot 
speak  to  us,  whereas  in  their  capacity  as  fellow  citizens  and  sym- 
pathisers, they  could  address  us  the  whole  day  long,  and  spare 
nothing  of  the  language  and  music  of  their  pitying  and  full  love. 
When  we  address  Jesus  Christ  as  ' '  Son  of  David, ' '  we  must  not 
rest  there.  To  that  local  and  limited  title  we  must  add  some 
designation  worthy  of  the  purposes  of  his  heart.  We  belong  to 
the  Gentile  race.  From  the  house  of  David  we  are  excluded  : 
Abraham  knows  us  not  :  we  must  not  therefore  walk  up  Jewish 
staircases  to  these  heavenly  heights,  but  other  ways  must  be  found, 
and  other  ways  have  been  opened  for  us,  and  as  Gentiles  we  must 
move  to  the  cross  by  methods  which  have  been  indicated  from 
heaven. 

In  the  light  of  these  suggestions  read  our  Saviour's  reply, — "  I 
am  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  as  the 
Son  of  David."  In  other  words — "  If  this  woman  addresses  me 
as  the  Son  of  David  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  her.  If  that  is  all 
she  knows  about  me,  if  she  comes  to  me  as  a  great  Jew  and  a 
great  descendant  of  an  illustrious  sire,  I  have  no  reply  to  make  to 
her  plaint."  Whether  there  is  any  other  way  of  coming,  we  shall 
see. 


MATTHEW  XV.  21-31.  345 

The  bitterness  of  her  trial  gives  the  right  tone  to  the  woman's 
prayer.  She  prayed  a  second  time.  Jesus  Christ  himself 
amended  his  own  prayer  upon  one  memorable  occasion.  He 
allows  us  to  amend,  enlarge,  simplify  our  supplications.  Then 
came  she  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  "  Lord,  help  me."  Sorrow 
abbreviates  our  prayers,  sorrow  teaches  us  true  eloquence.  When 
the  heart  is  in  the  grip  of  a  deadly  agony,  it  knows  how  to  pray. 
In  our  ordinary,  and  more  or  less  conventional  public  worship,  we 
must  have  order  and  method,  by  which  the  public  can  be  guided. 
Beyond  all  such  arrangements  there  lie  the  innumerable  plans 
and  methods  of  approach  to  heaven,  known  only  to  the  heart  in 
its  keenest  pangs.  There  are  times  in  which  no  man  can  teach 
another  how  to  pray.  Bursting  out  of  his  throbbing  heart  will  fly 
the  great  desire,  in  appropriate  speech  and  tone.  Unless  we  have 
had  experience  of  that  kind  we  are  not  in  a  proper  mood  to  dis- 
cuss the  possible  prevalence  of  prayer  :  questions  to  which  this 
inquiry  respecting  prayer  belongs,  are  not  to  be  discussed  with 
cold  intellectualism.  When  your  child  has  been  grievously  vexed 
with  a  devil,  when  the  last  hope  of  your  life  has  been  blown  out 
by  a  sudden  and  most  cruel  wind,  when  you  are  climbing  up  steep 
places  and  the  loose  stones  are  giving  way  in  your  hand,  you  will 
know  whether  prayer  is  a  necessity  of  life  or  a  recreation  of  the 
religious  fancy. 

Our  prayers  are  forced  out  of  us,  and  being  forced  out  of  us  by 
some  mighty  impulsion  which  cannot  be  adequately  described  in 
words,  they  seem  to  take  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  by  violence. 
When  men  feel  the  bitterness  of  sin,  they  will  find  right  names  for 
Christ.  Understand  more  and  more  clearly  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
not  to  be  approached  as  an  intellectual  or  historical  problem  with 
any  hope  of  solving  the  great  enigma  to  the  content  of  the  mind. 
Herein  is  much  time  wasted,  and  temper  often  greatly  exasperated, 
that  men  think  they  can  subject  the  Son  of  God  to  arbitrary 
vivisection.  We  see  him  only  now  and  then.  We  may  speak 
about  him  in  the  deepest  sense  and  with  proper  tone  only 
occasionally.  He  is  with  us  always  as  a  vision  of  the  heart  and 
an  inspiration  of  the  will,  but  for  the  purposes  of  explanation  in 
words  to  others,  it  is  only  seldom  in  a  lifetime  that  a  man  has 
the  responsibility  of  such  an  occasion.  We  must  feel  Christ 
rather  than  understand  him,  we  must  wait  for  his  coming  rather 


346  SORROW  A    TEACHER. 


than  surprise  him  by  our  intellectual  agility  and  resoluteness. 
When  we  feel  the  bitterness  and  the  burden  of  sin,  we  see  the 
cross,  as  in  the  darkness  we  see  the  stars.  No  man  should  speak 
about  Christ  except  from  the  point  of  earnest  conviction  of  sin 
and  an  impelling  necessity  of  the  soul  to  find  out  who  he  is  and 
what  he  can  do.  He  is  not  a  subject  for  essays  and  for  deliberate 
and  clever  discussions  ;  he  cannot  be  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of 
criticism  to  which  historical  characters  of  another  kind  easily  yield 
themselves.  Christ  is  the  angel  that  comes  to  the  heart,  the 
Messenger  that  finds  his  way  to  us  along  the  intricacies  and 
difficulties  of  our  sorrow,  the  Saviour  that  visits  us  in  the  midnight 
of  our  hopeless  guilt.  - 

He  is  always  born  in  the  night-time.  Under  the  pressure  of 
penitence  and  broken-heartedness  you  will  know  by  what  names 
to  address  Jesus  Christ — then  you  will  know  whether  he  is  God 
or  Man  ;  you  will  never  be  able  to  settle  that  question  by  dry 
intellectual  processes,  but  when  the  heart  wants  him,  cries  for 
him,  must  die  without  him,  it  will  dictate  to  the  head  the 
appellation  which  is  worthy  of  his  dignity  and  his  power.  All 
these  mighty  cries  of  blind  men,  troubled  souls,  needy  women, 
show  what  kind  of  man  is  expected  in  one  who  claims  to  be  the 
King.  Jesus  Christ  was  promised  as  a  King,  a  Ruler  and  a 
Mighty  One,  who  should  have  the  nations  under  his  feet  and 
sway  them  with  omnipotent  majesty.  When  he  came  along  th« 
common  lines  of  human  history,  entering  into  cities  and  habita- 
tions, men  who  were  in  great  need  and  distress,  showed  by  their 
prayers  what  a  true  king  must  be.  He  must  bring  with  him 
something  more  than  a  crown,  something  more  than  royal  regalia, 
something  more  than  court  and  pomp  :  he  must  bring  help.  A 
king  is  an  irony  if  he  be  not  beneficent  above  all  other  men. 
A  king  mocks  our  social  helplessness  and  our  social  poverty  if 
he  be  not  the  princeliest  giver,  the  man  whose  heart  is  a  great 
treasure-house,  out  of  which  are  handed,  night  and  day,  donations 
to  make  life  richer  and  gladder.  Thus  do  we  learn  from  sorrow 
what  we  never  could  learn  from  mere  genius.  The  world  felt  the 
kingship  of  Jesus  before  it  could  assign  that  royalty  its  technical 
name.  Early  in  the  pages  of  his  history,  the  lame,  the  halt,  the 
maimed,  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  were  crowding  around 
him,  saying  in  mute  eloquence,  "  A  king  must  help,  or  he  is  not 


MATTHEW  XV.  21-31.  347 

a  king. "     So  is  sorrow  an  expositor,  and  so  is  agony  one  of  the 
world's  greatest  preachers. 

Jesus  Christ  abased  this  Canaanitish  woman,  but  we  never  find 
him  subjecting  any  human  creature  to  abasement  without  his  dis- 
closing a  gracious  purpose  of  exaltation.  Jesus  answered,  "  It  is 
not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  dogs." 
This  is  one  of  the  passages  which  no  criticism  can  explain.  We 
ought  to  have  heard  the  tone  in  which  Jesus  Christ  himself 
delivered  the  words.  To  feel  their  import  properly,  we  should 
have  seen  the  expression  of  his  face  when  he  uttered  the  rugged 
and  severe  reply.  The  printed  page  is  poor  when  it  undertakes 
to  make  representations  of  this  kiu^ — the  illuminating  smile,  the 
explanatory  tone,  the  subtle  music,  the  step  towards,  the  help 
nearly  given — what  can  the  printed  page  make  of  these .?  Was 
he  quoting  a  proverb,  was  he  reminding  the  woman  of  one  of  her 
own  sayings,  was  he  bringing  to  her  memory  something  she  had 
said  about  other  people  ?  It  is  thus  that  Christ  takes  the  sword 
out  of  our  hand,  and  gives  us  to  feel  the  sharpness  of  its  point. 
Happily,  though  we  cannot  enter  into  the  whole  atmosphere  of 
the  reply,  and  thus  find  out  its  mitigations,  we  know  what 
happened  immediately  afterwards,  and  that  subsequent  action 
must  be  taken  as  the  light  and  exposition  of  all  that  went 
before. 

How  will  the  woman  reply .?  She  will  stand  upon  her  dignity. 
No  heart  that  is  filled  with  agony  has  any  dignity  of  a  petty  kind 
to  stand  upon.  She  will  be  offended.  She  might  have  been  if 
her  child  had  not  been  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil,  but  love 
keeps  the  temper  sweet.  She  will  be  struck  dumb,  having  no 
reply  to  words  so  clear  and  final.  We  look  from  Christ  to  the 
woman,  wondering  what  she  can  possibly  reply.  Her  answer  is 
before  us,  and  is  it  possible  for  any  answer  to  be  keener  in  its  wit, 
tenderer  in  its  pathos,  more  hopeful  in  its  sentiment .?  She  said, 
"  Truth,  Lord  :  yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from 
their  master's  table."  He  inspired  that  answer  himself  :  that  elo- 
quent reply  was  part  of  the  exaltation  which  he  meant  to  assure  and 
confirm.  No  grander  answer  was  every  returned  by  human  lips. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  eloquence  of  Christ  himself  superior 
to  this  flash  of  the  heart's  wit.  This  illustrates  wLat  is  meant  by 
inspiration. 


348  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  EXPLAINED. 


How  did  Jesus  Christ  reply  to  this  method  of  putting  the  case  ? 
He  replied  instantly,  with  the  whole  gospel  in  his  tone,  with  all 
the  love  of  his  heart  beaming,  burning  in  his  transfigured  face, 
"  O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith."  He  always  recognised  the  opera- 
tion of  faith  in  human  life.  Nothing  seemed  to  surprise  the  Son 
of  God  so  much  as  the  exercise  of  faith.  We  cannot  define  faith 
in  any  adequate  terms  :  it  is  not  a  dictionary  word.  Faith  is  the 
sixth  sense,  faith  is  the  religious  faculty,  faith  is  the  power  that 
takes  all  other  senses  and  glorifies  them,  faith  is  the  step  into  the 
invisible  which  the  soul  takes  in  its  supreme  moments  of  inspira- 
tion. We  have  lowered  the  word  faith  by  trying  to  intellectualise 
it  :  it  has  come  within  the  purpose  of  some  men  to  attempt  to 
explain  faith — the  explanation  had  better  have  been  left  alone, 
for  it  does  but  spoil  what  it  attempts  to  illumine.  We  know  what 
faith  is  when  the  heart  is  in  the  right  condition.  With  the  heart 
man  believeth  unto  righteousness.  This  is  not  a  merely  intel- 
lectual process,  and  does  not  therefore  come  under  the  laws  of 
merely  intellectual  inquiry  or  anatomy.  Faith  is  the  supreme  act 
of  the  heart,  and  is  not  to  be  explained  until  after  it  has  been 
done.  When  a  man  has  given  himself  wholly  to  the  Son  of  God 
in  some  great  passion  of  sacrifice,  the  minister  it  may  be,  or  a 
friend,  stands  near  him  and  says,  "  Now,  that  is  faith." 

It  is  a  word  that  comes  after  the  action  and  not  before  it.  Wit 
is  a  partial  gift,  eloquence  belongs  to  but  a  few,  poets  are  born, 
not  made — but  faith  is  the  universal  possibility.  Herein  is  the 
one  word  which  belongs  to  all  languages.  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.  Men  are  saved  by  faith 
that  is  in  Christ.  The  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live 
by  faith  on  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for 
me.  Lord,  increase  our  faith.  Lord,  I  believe  ;  help  thou  mine 
unbelief. 

Can  we  believe  for  others  ?  Is  there  an  operation  of  proxy  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  .?  This  woman  is  not  praying  for  herself 
alone,  she  is  principally  praying  for  her  absent  child  who  is  griev- 
ously vexed  with  a  devil.  Where  the  child  cannot  herself  believe, 
does  the  Lord  Jesus  accept  the  mother's  faith  as  the  child's  act .? 
Into  questions  so  difficult  we  cannot  enter  with  any  hope  of 
complete  illumination — still  the  heart  says  that  we  can  almost 
believe  for  other  people.     Your  mother  wants  to  stretch  her  godly 


MATTHEW  XV.  2\-2,\.  349 

faith  round  about  your  blasphemy,  so  that  you  may  be  saved. 
Your  father  wants  to  include  you  within  the  amplitude  of  his  faith, 
for  he  call§  your  unbelief  a  devil,  and  in  many  a  secret  prayer  to 
heaven  he  says,  ' '  My  son  is  grievously  vexed  with  the  demon  of 
unbelief."  It  is  impossible  to  resist  the  operation  of  this  law  of 
inclusion  :  we  cannot  question  that  we  all  receive  benefits  from 
heaven  because  of  the  religion  of  other  people.  Ten  righteous 
men  spare  the  city,  the  house  of  Potiphar  is  blessed  for  Joseph's 
sake,  the  ship  tossed  upon  the  sea  is  spared  because  of  the  prisoner 
Paul  who  is  on  board,  and  many  of  us  are  to-day  reaping  the 
crops  which  our  fathers  sowed  in  seed.  Pray  for  your  child  :  be 
yours  the  big  faith  that  surprises  God — then  who  can  tell  what 
answers  may  be  returned  ?  for  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  the 
Canaanitish  woman,  "  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt. ' '  He 
gave  her  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  and  said,  * '  Use  them  after  thy 
liking. ' ' 

Then  he  passed  on,  and  came  nigh  unto  the  sea  of  Galilee,  and 
went  up  into  a  mountain  and  sat  there.  And  the  people  allowed 
him  to  sit  there,  combining  ease  with  dignity,  taking  rest,  and 
contemplating  the  city  with  all  its  sin  and  pain,  from  a  distance. 
It  is  not  so  that  the  tragic  story  reads.  No  sooner  had  he  sat 
down  than  great  multitudes  came  to  him,  having  with  them  those 
that  were  lame,  blind,  dumb,  maimed,  and  many  others,  and  cast 
them  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  We  belong  to  him  most  when  we 
are  in  our  deepest,  most  abject  helplessness.  He  does  not  say, 
"Take  away  these  burdens  and  leave  the  mountain  free  for  my 
enjoyment" — no,  he  was  king,  and  a  king  must  give,  a  king  must 
identify  himself  with  his  subjects,  royalty  must  sympathise.  And 
Jesus  healed  them,  so  that  they  who  were  borne  up  the  mountain 
as  burdens,  left  it  with  agility  and  delight  and  thankfulness. 
Then  was  there  great  rejoicing  among  the  multitude  :  they  could 
not  deny  the  wonderful  works  that  had  been  done.  When  we  see 
dumb  men  speaking,  lame  men  walking,  maimed  men  whole,  and 
the  blind  seeing,  it  is  surely  impossible  for  us  to  betake  ourselves 
to  some  mean  intellectual  explanation  of  these  marvellous  and 
astounding  disclosures  of  power.  The  people  yielded  to  the  natural 
instinct,  and  the  mountain  throbbed  again  with  the  resounding 
song  and  shout  and  jubilance  of  those  who  beheld  the  revelation 
of  the  kingdom  of  gracious  power. 


350  PERSONAL  MIRACLES. 

Jesus  Christ  is  doing  greater  works  to-day,  and  to-day  the 
world  should  be  filled  with  the  music  of  gratulation  and  thanks- 
giving unto  God.  Were  not  some  of  us  blind  and  do  we  not 
now  see  ?  How  few  years  separate  between  our  present  condition 
and  one  that  we  dare  scarcely  recall  because  of  its  humiliation. 
\Ve  were  as  sheep  going  astray,  but  we  are  now  returned  unto  the 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  our  souls.  We  were  defiled  and  unclean 
and  polluted  and  corrupt,  but  we  are  washed,  we  are  cleansed,  we 
are  sanctified.  If  it  is  a  great  thing — and  no  man  would  question 
its  greatness — to  see  the  maimed  made  whole,  and  the  dumb 
made  to  speak,  it  is  a  greater  thing  to  see  a  bad  heart  turned  to 
righteousness,  and  to  hear  blaspheming  lips  opened  in  loyal 
prayer.     Such  are  the  continual  miracles  of  the  grace  of  Christ. 


LXV. 

CHRIST   THE   SATISFACTION   OF   HUNGER. 
Matthew  xv.  32-39. 

32.  Then  Jesus  called  his  disciples  unto  him,  and  said,  I  have  compas- 
sion on  the  multitude,  because  they  continue  with  me  now  three  days, 
and  have  nothmg  to  eat  ;  and  I  will  not  send  them  away  fasting,  lest 
they  famt  in  the  way. 

33.  And  his  disciples  say  unto  him,  Whence  should  we  have  so  much 
bread  m  the  wilderness,  as  to  fill  so  great  a  multitude? 

34.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  How  many  loaves  have  ye  ?  And 
they  said,  seven,  and  a  few  little  fishes. 

35.  And  he  commanded  the  multitude  to  sit  down  on  the  ground. 

36.  And  he  took  the  seven  loaves  and  the  fishes,  and  gave  thanks,  and 
brake  them,  and  gave  to  his  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to   the  multitude. 

37.  And  they  did  all  eat,  and  were  filled  ;  and  they  took  up  the  broken 
meat  that  was  left  seven  baskets  full. 

38.  And  they  that  did  eat  were  lour  thousand  men,  beside  women  and 
children. 

39.  And  he  sent  away  the  multitude,  and  took  ship,  and  came  into  the 
coasts  at  Magdala. 

ALL  orthodox  critics  regard  this  miracle  as  totally  distinct 
from  the  strikingly  similar  one  recorded  in  the  fourteenth 
chapter.  There  can,  indeed,  be  no  doubt  about  it,  if  we  believe 
what  Jesus  Christ  himself  is  reported  to  have  said  in  the  sixteenth 
chapter,  wherein  he  asks  the  people  if  they  have  forgotten  the  five 
loaves  of  the  five  thousand,  and  the  seven  loaves  of  the  four 
thousand.  This  is  one  of  the  repetitions  which  are  necessary  in 
beneficent  life.  We  must  not  find  fault  with  the  miracles  because 
we  have  experienced  something  very  like  them  before.  Our  life 
is  a  continual  miracle  ;  repetitions  ought  not  to  be  monotonous 
to  us,  our  love  ought  to  be  so  intelligent  and  lively  as  to  discern 
in  every  repeated  miracle  some  new  phase  and  tone  of  the  divine 
mind  and  purpose. 

Amidst  all  his  thinking,   which  must  have  been  of  the  most 


352  HOW  THE  CROSS  IS  TO  BE  TREATED. 


trying  nature,  Jesus  Christ's  acute  and  passionate  sympathy  was 
never  suppressed.  With  such  problems  pressing  for  solution,  with 
the  purposes  of  eternity  about  to  accomplish  themselves  in  his 
agony  and  death,  with  the  cross  daily  acquiring  new  definiteness 
of  outline  and  weight,  who  could  wonder  if  all  that  was  merely 
sympathetic  should  be  forgotten  or  suspended  ?  Are  not  we  ab- 
sorbed in  the  solution  of  our  intellectual  problems,  are  we  not 
sometimes  so  taken  up  with  great  questions,  that  we  cannot  attend 
to  domestic  affairs,  or  household  anxieties,  or  to  the  so-called  petty 
troubles  of  our  passing  life  ?  Here  is  a  man  who  was  slain  from 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  who  is  now  to  be  seen  in 
heaven  by  faith's  vision,  as  a  lamb  slain,  who  was  a  Man  of  sor- 
rows and  acquainted  with  grief  always,  who  had  the  wall  salvation 
pressing  upon  his  attention  and  crushing  the  strength  of  his  heart, 
and  yet  he  has  time  to  bestow  attention  upon  the  hunger  and 
thirst  of  the  multitude.  Wherein  then  is  our  reasoning  wrong, 
when  we  think  that  great  intellectual  and  moral  considerations 
might  have  excluded  the  action  of  sympathy  .?  It  is  wrong  in  the 
fact  that  we  do  not  understand  the  real  nature  and  scope  of  sym- 
pathy, when  properly  interpreted  and  understood.  But  for  his 
sympathy  the  cross  Avould  have  been  an  impossibility  ;  intellect 
cowered  before  it,  love  took  it  up  and  bore  it  onward  until  its  very 
gloom  was  carried  into  glory. 

So  shall  it  be  with  all  crosses  that  are  rightly  borne.  If  we 
carry  our  crosses  in  Christ's  spirit  and  according  to  the  measure 
of  Christ' s  will,  we  shall  force  our  troubles  beyond  the  dark  point 
at  which  they  would  bind  us  down,  and  make  those  troubles  con- 
tribute to  the  very  satisfaction  which  they  were  meant  to  destroy. 
Intellect  soon  drops  its  crosses,  love  bears  them  on  to  the  happy 
'  consummation.  We  are  too  impatient  with  our  crosses  :  we  try 
to  cut  them  down  ;  we  should  let  them  alone  until  they  take  root 
and  blossom  and  bear  fruit  for  our  soul's  satisfaction.  Herein  is 
the  lesson  of  Christ  broad  and  gracious  to  us  in  all  its  application 
of  wisdom  and  of  comfort.  You  want  to  cut  the  cross  into  small 
pieces  of  M'ood  and  to  burn  them  in  the  fire  and  so  destroy  the 
tree  of  crucifixion  :  Jesus  Christ  shows  us  how  we  are  to  treat  the 
cross — we  are  to  carry  it  forward  from  step  to  step  until  we  cause 
the  extreme  of  trouble  to  touch  the  beginning  of  joy.  Let  us 
consider  then  the  High  Priest  of  our  profession,  let  us  run  with 


MATTHEW  XV.  32-39.  353 

patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the 
author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before 
him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.  The  joy  that  is  beyond  should  give 
strength  to  bear  the  cross  which  is  the  immediate  portion  of  the 
passing  day.  If  we  omit  from  our  recollection  the  coming,  the 
necessary  joy,  what  wonder  if  our  souls  be  cast  down  as  under 
the  pressure  of  an  intolerable  burden  }  Our  light  affliction  is  but 
for  a  moment,  whilst  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen.  We  are  to  be  constrained 
to  nobler  heroism  of  endurance  and  sweeter  gentleness  of  patience, 
by  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  Take  in  more  field,  cast  your 
eyes  abroad  upon  a  bolder  horizon,  recognise  the  ulterior  purpose 
and  the  sure  consummation  of  divine  love,  and  then  the  cross  will 
begin  to  bud,  and  to  have  upon  it  green  leaves,  and  then  coloured 
blossoms,  and  then  rich  sweet  fruit ;  and  the  soul  will  know  that 
it  was  a  glad  time  when  that  rough  cross  was  planted  in  the  soil 
of  the  life. 

Hear  this  sweet  music,  which  rises  with  the  might  of  gentleness, 
in  the  desert.  It  comes  upon  us  suddenly,  and  yet  there  ought 
not  to  be  any  suddenness  in  such  a  strain.  Jesus  says,  "  I  have 
compassion."  This  is  the  "key- word  of  the  Saviour's  life,  the  sur- 
name of  Christ  is  Compassion.  Why  should  such  a  speech  startle 
one  .''  He  refers  to  his  compassion  as  if  it  were  a  new  feature  m 
the  day's  proceedings  :  he  indicates  the  rising  of  compassion  as 
though  It  were  a  new  emotion  of  his  life.  What  was  the  Saviour 
doing  all  the  time  but  having  compassion  .?  The  feeling  never 
ceased  :  it  touched  with  its  own  gentleness  everything  that  Christ 
did — he  might  have  prefaced  every  day's  work  with  "  I  have  com- 
passion," he  might  every  night  have  fallen  asleep  to  the  music  of 
his  own  words,  ' '  I  have  compassion. ' '  It  gave  a  wondrous  expres- 
sion to  his  eyes,  caused  the  subtlest  tones  to  enter  into  his  gentle 
yet  all-pervasive  and  all-penetrating  voice,  it  lifted  him  up  above 
his  burdens  and  made  him  face  the  devil  with  a  new  energy — 
it  was  the  secret  and  the  very  inspiration  of  his  life  and  ministry. 

If  you  read  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  under  this  suggestion  that 
compassion  is  the  key-word  of  it  all,  you  will  find  everything 
Jesus  Christ  did  taking  on  a  new  colour  and  bearing  a  new 
attitude  and  general  relation  to  all  history  and  to  all  providences. 


354  COMPASSION. 


When  he  preached,  he  preached  as  one  who  had  compassion,  and 
preaching  without  compassion  is  not  preaching  the  gospel  in  a 
gospel  tone.  He  who  would  preach  Christ  must  preach  him 
yearningly,  tearfully — there  must  throughout  his  sermons  be 
great  gushes  of  tenderest  desire  for  the  souls  of  men.  This  is 
the  secret  of  apostolic  power  :  Paul  besought  those  who  heard 
him  night  and  day  with  tears  ;  the  apostle  punctuated  some  of 
his  letters  with  weeping.  Jesus  Christ  was  a  preacher  whose 
words  were  steeped  in  feeling  ;  every  sermon  therefore  came  from 
his  heart,  belonged  to  his  heart,  expressed  his  heart's  uppermost 
feeling  and  purpose.  When  Jesus  Christ  denounced,  he 
denounced  in  the  spirit  of  compassion,  his  curses  were  the 
emphasis  of  his  pity  and  his  love,  not  in  relation  to  those  on 
whom  they  fell  like  thunderbolts,  but  in  relation  to  those  on 
whose  behalf  he  poured  out  the  maledictions  of  his  righteous  and 
solemn  anger.  When  he  denounced  the  Pharisees  because  they 
would  not  touch  the  burdens  they  laid  upon  men  with  so  much 
as  the  tips  of  their  fingers,  it  was  because  he  had  compassion 
upon  those  who  were  oppressed  by  the  tyranny  of  those  who 
sought  to  over-ride  and  over-drive  them.  When  he  called  men 
hypocrites,  liars,  actors,  it  was  because  they  were  deluding  and 
misleading  people,  and  because  he  had  compassion  upon  the 
dupes  and  victims  of  priestly  cunning  and  wicked  purpose. 

Why  then  should  we  be  surprised  when  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  I 
have  compassion  ' ' .?  Sometimes  he  had  to  express  his  compassion 
in  the  very  lowest  and  commonest  forms.  He  accommodated 
himself  to  human  weakness  in  the  ways  in  which  he  made  his 
revelations.  We  ought  to  have  known  that  his  very  cunning  was 
the  expression  of  a  passionate  feeling,  we  ought  to  have  heard 
tones  of  compassion  in  every  beatitude  he  pronounced  and  in 
every  thunder  of  denunciation  which  he  launched  ;  but  seeing 
that  we  were  not  spiritually  sympathetic  enough  so  to  do,  he  had 
actually  to  come  down  and  express  his  compassion  to  us  in  the 
feeding  of  our  physical  hunger.  He  has,  so  to  say,  to  force 
himself  by  vulgarest  miracle  upon  the  rude  stupidity  of  those  who 
cannot  follow  the  subtler  music  and  diviner  passages  of  his 
ministry.  Not  until  he  clothes  some  of  us  do  we  understand  that 
he  cares  about  us.  He  has,  so  to  say,  to  build  up,  brick  by  brick, 
our   very   houses,  and   not   until   he    has    roofed   them   in  and 


MATTHEW  XV.  32-39.  355 

furnished  them  and  made  them  glow  with  comfort  do  we  begin 
to  see  that  possibly  there  may  be  a  Father  and  a  Saviour  in  the 
universe.  When  our  spiritual  education  is  more  advanced,  when 
our  sympathies  are  more  eager  and  sensitive  and  are  illuminated 
with  divine  intelligence,  we  shall  see  God  in  other  directions  and 
in  other  relations,  and  shall  not  need  the  miracle  of  bread  to 
convince  us  that  the  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered  and 
the  very  beatings  of  our  heart  are  heard  in  heaven.  Meanwhile 
we  are  rude,  coarse,  impervious,  and  he  has  to  treat  us  according 
to  the  impenetrableness  of  our  moral  condition. 

' '  I  have  compassion. ' '  How  did  he  say  that  word  ?  With 
what  richness  of  tone,  how  broadly  yet  penetratingly  he  pro- 
nounced the  word.  He  expounded  it  in  its  very  enunciation,  it 
warmed  the  wilderness  when  he  uttered  it,  a  new  glow  of  hope 
pervading  the  breasts  of  all  who  heard  that  ineffable  music.  The 
compassionate  man  is  the  one  whom  we  need  oftenest  and  longest. 
The  clever  man  amuses  us  for  a  moment,  the  entertaining  man 
comes  happily  into  the  life  now  and  again  on  sundry  numerable 
occasions,  the  argumentative  man  troubles  and  vexes  the  intellect 
with  many  a  hard  proposition  which  he  labours  to  solve  and 
settle  according  to  his  own  conceptions,  but  we  tire  of  them  all — 
we  cannot  live  upon  cleverness,  entertainment  sates  its  dupes, 
argumentativeness  wears  the  brain  which  it  challenges  to  high 
controversy,  but  pity,  gentle  compassion,  noble  all-including 
sympathy — it  is  the  everlasting  necessity,  it  is  the  divinest  ex- 
pression of  interest. 

This  is  Christ's  power  over  the  world — not  the  splendour  of  his 
intellect,  not  the  witchery  and  fascination  of  his  simple  crystal 
eloquence,  but  his  love,  care,  pity,  patience,  hopefulness,  the 
heavenly  way  he  has  of  stooping  down  to  us  and  reconstructing 
our  life  when  it  has  been  shattered  by  rude  blows,  by  whispering 
into  our  ear  the  word  of  hope  which  we  dare  not  whisper  to 
ourselves  lest  we  should  provoke  the  sword  of  conscience  or  bring 
to  bear  upon  our  souls  the  sting  of  outraged  memory.  By  his 
love  he  wins,  by  his  compassion  he  stands  foremost  among  the 
world's  redeemers,  not  one  of  many  but  one  alone,  and  they  are 
broken  parts  of  him. 

In  such  miracles  as  this  we  see  how  Jesus  Christ  includes  the 
whole  life  in  his  purview  and  intent,  and  how  nothing  is  too  lowly 


35^  THE  SEPARATING  POINT. 

for  him  to  do  that  will  bring  into  our  hearts  quietness  and  rest 
and  satisfaction.  The  clever  man  will  abandon  you  when  you, 
enter  the  chamber  of  affliction  :  his  voice  would  be  harsh  there. 
The  entertaining  man  cannot  go  with  you  into  the  sanctuary  of 
sorrow  :  his  laughter  would  offend  the  genius  of  the  place,  his 
jokes  would  be  blasphemies  in  that  solemn  place.  The  argu- 
mentative man  even  would  vex  the  soul  by  his  problems  and 
propositions,  his  hypotheses  and  clever  conjectures,  when  the 
soul  is  ill  at  ease  and  is  the  subject  of  such  afflictions  as  can  be 
known  only  by  those  who  have  been  transfixed  by  the  accusations 
of  God's  law. 

Who  then  can  enter  the  chamber  or  be  at  home  in  the  great 
darkness  or  take  up  the  speech  of  the  new  land  and  utter  it  so 
that  the  soul  can  understand  its  whole  meaning.?  He  only  who 
trod  the  winepress,  who  sweat,  as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood, 
who  spake  seven  times  on  the  accursed  tree,  who  said,  * '  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  and  who  added, 
"It  is  finished."  He  goes  with  us  everywhere,  he  is  with  us 
at  the  wedding  feast,  he  will  find  wine  enough  for  the  guests. 
Wherever  he  goes  he  takes  the  wine  of  gladness  with  him,  and 
when  we  come  to  die,  he  will  be  the  principal  guest  in  the 
chamber,  and  will  then  give  us  the  same  wine,  the  wedding  wine. 
He  only  goes  everywhere  and  is  equally  strong  at  every  point. 

Now  we  come  to  a  point  which  for  ever  separates  Jesus  Christ 
from  all  other  men,  even  the  most  tender-hearted  and  com- 
passionate. It  can  be  said  of  Christ  alone  that  his  resources 
were  equal  to  his  compassion.  Our  compassion  outruns  our 
resources  :  we  are  so  often  utterly  helpless  we  might  as  well  have 
no  senses  at  all.  What  we  would  do,  if  we  could  :  we  would  lift 
up  the  sick  and  the  weary  and  make  them  well  in  a  moment  if  it 
lay  within  our  power  so  to  do.  We  would  take  up  the  languishing 
and  the  death-stricken  and  make  them  glad  in  the  summer  light, 
and  cause  them  to  laugh  with  new  energy,  and  because  of  new 
earthly  hopes.  We  would  cover  up  the  grave,  filling  it  with 
flowers,  and  smooth  down  the  green  face  of  the  earth,  so  that 
it  would  be  a  shame  to  rip  it  up  again  for  the  purpose  of  hiding 
away  the  life  of  man.  But  though  this  would  be  the  expression 
of  our  ignorant  compassion,  we  are  left  without  resource. 


MATTHEW  XV.  32-39.  357 


Jesus  Christ  always  startled  his  disciples  by  the  completeness  of 
his  proposals.  "  Feed  the  multitude,"  said  he,  and  the  disciples 
instantly  answered  "  How.?"  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature" — the  same  completeness  and 
the  same  compassion,  the  same  determination  to  meet  the  necessity 
of  the  whole  case  ;  and  truly  from  a  human  point  of  view  there  is 
as  little  apparently  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other — that  is  to  say, 
in  the  case  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  and  feeding 
the  multitude  with  a  few  loaves  and  small  fishes.  What  is  there 
in  this  gospel  to  preach  to  every  creature  .?  what  is  there  of  suffi- 
ciency to  meet  the  wants  of  the  human  family  in  all  lands  in  all 
times }  Yet  it  grows  as  it  is  spoken  :  this  message  never  ends  : 
it  halts  for  a  moment  to  accommodate  the  weakness  of  the  speaker, 
but  it  tarries  for  him,  it  makes  the  air  throb  and  burn  till  he 
returns  to  his  work,  itself  is  never  expressed  in  final  speech.  Let 
those  testify  to  the  sufficiency  of  the  gospel  to  meet  every  want, 
who  have  known  the  gospel  longest. 

Notice  the  reason  which  Jesus  Christ  gives  for  his  action — 
"  lest  they  faint  in  the  way."  Here  is  the  preventive  ministry  of 
the  Saviour  :  he  does  not  wait  until  the  people  do  faint,  he  will 
run  before  them  to  prevent  them  fainting.  Who  can  estimate  this 
aspect  of  the  Saviour's  ministry  amongst  us  .?  We  know  the  acci- 
dents which  actually  occur,  and  we  magnify  them  into  tragedies, 
but  who  knows  the  accidents  which  we  narrowly  escape,  the 
accidents,  so  to  say,  which  might  have  happened,  the  perils  which 
surround  us  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left  and  yet  which  do 
not  express  themselves  in  their  ultimate  form  .'  The  physiologists 
tell  us  that  every  day  we  have  ten  thousand  narrow  escapes  from 
death  :  you  do  not  know  how  near  you  were  dying  five  minutes 
ago — death,  so  to  say,  brushed  you,  and  there  was  not  room  for  a 
breath  between  the  monster  and  the  possible  victim.  We  only 
know  the  rude  accident,  the  actual  fainting  fit ;  but  the  accidents 
from  which  we  are  spared,  the  fainting  fits  that  are  kept  off,  the 
perils  that  are  commanded  to  stand  aside,  who  can  estimate  all 
these }  Yet  in  this  instance  Jesus  Christ  invites  our  attention 
to  his  broadly  preventive  ministry  ;  the  action  in  which  he  goes 
before  us  to  make  ready  against  every  contingency  that  could  give 
us  trouble. 


358  WHAT  THE  SUMMER  DOES. 


"  I  go  that  I  may  prepare  a  place  for  you. ' '  He  is  always 
running  before  :  if  he  go  away,  he  says,  when  we  cling  to  him  as 
if  we  would  detain  him  on  the  earth,  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that 
I  go  away."  He  never  did  anything  for  himself ;  he  saved  others, 
himself  he  could  not  save.  To-day  he  is  pleading  for  us,  making 
our  poor  prayers  into  great  prevalent  intercessions,  lifting  up  our 
little  ministry  of  supplication  into  his  own  broad  and  grand 
priesthood,  and  giving  gifts  unto  men  as  the  answers  to  his  own 
great  prayers.  We  do  not  know  all  that  Jesus  is  doing  for  us,  we 
do  not  even  know  all  that  the  summer  does.  Add  up  and  tell  me 
in  plain  speech  what  the  summer  does.  You  will  speak  of  gar- 
dens and  meadows,  blossoms,  foliages  of  a  thousand  tints,  ripening 
fruits,  singing-birds,  great  breadths  of  blue  sky,  height  on  height, 
an  infinite  immensity — is  that  all  .f"  You  do  not  tell  me  how  the 
summer  climbed  up  into  the  poor  man's  one-paned  window  and 
looked  at  him  and  told  him  he  should  be  well  again.  You  do 
not  tell  me  how  the  summer  subtly  affected  the  souls  of  men  who 
were  depressed,  and  caused  them  to  believe  that  even  yet  they 
would  have  a  few  cheerful  hours  before  they  passed  away  and  were 
no  more.  You  cannot  follow  all  the  ministry  of  light ;  it  is  always 
speaking,  always  working  miracles,  always  recalling  hope,  always 
showing  ways  out  of  difficulties — light,  a  word  of  one  syllable, 
but  of  all  syllables  in  one. 

Christ  did  not  say  that  he  wished  to  perform  a  miracle  ;  Jesus 
Christ  had  no  wish  to  show  signs  and  wonders,  and  to  display 
mere  power.  Had  the  bread  been  equal  to  the  compassion,  no 
miracle  would  have  been  performed.  Compassion  is  the  secret 
of  every  miracle  ;  there  are  no  instances  of  Jesus  Christ  exerting 
mere  power  for  the  sake  of  its  display  :  he  never  sought  to  do 
anything  by  the  exhibition  of  mere  qmnipotence.  Read  the 
miracles  in  the  light  of  this  suggestion,  and  you  will  find  that 
every  miracle  is,  so  to  say,  the  expression  of  his  tears,  the  utter- 
ance of  his  love,  the  form  of  his  compassion.  Think  of  all  his 
healing,  and  see  in  all  the  wondrous  cures  which  he  wrought, 
how  he  had  compassion  on  the  multitude.  See  him  raising  the 
dead,  and  as  the  dead  rise  in  obedience  to  his  word,  hear  him 
say,  ' '  I  have  compassion  on  the  living  because  they  are  so  lonely 
and  cold  in  the  absence  of  the  loved  one."     See  him  walking  on 


MATTHEW  XV.  32-39.  359 


the  sea,  and  hear  hini  saying  to  the  cold  night  wind,  roused  into 
storms  that  affrighted  the  poor  voyagers,  "  I  have  compassion  on 
the  storm-tossed  disciples  because  they  are  alone  and  know  not 
what  to  do. ' '  And  hear  him  say  on  the  cross,  ' '  I  have  compaS" 
sion  on  the  multitude." 


LXVI. 

READERS  OF  THE  OUTSIDE. 
Matthew  xvi.  1-12. 

1.  The  Pharisees  also  with  the  Sadducees  came,  and  tempting  him 
desired  that  he  would  show  them  a  sign  from  heaven. 

2.  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  When  it  is  evening,  ye  say.  It 
will  be  fair  weather  :  for  the  sky  is  red. 

3.  And  in  the  morning,  It  will  be  foul  weather  to-day  :  for  the  sky  is 
red  and  lowering.  O  ye  hypocrites,  ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky  ; 
but  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ? 

4.  A  wicked  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign  ;  and 
there  shall  be  no  sign  given  unto  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas. 
And  he  left  them,  and  departed. 

5.  And  when  his  disciples  were  come  to  the  other  side,  they  had  for- 
gotten to  take  bread. 

6.  Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of 
the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees. 

7.  And  they  reasoned  among  themselves,  saying.  It  is  because  we 
have  taken  no  bread. 

8.  Which  when  Jesus  perceived,  he  said  unto  them,  O  ye  of  little  faith, 
why  reason  ye  among  yourselves  because  ye  have  brought  no  bread  ? 

9.  Do  ye  not  yet  understand,  neither  remember  the  five  loaves  of  the 
five  thousand,  and  how  many  baskets  ye  took  up  ? 

ID.  Neither  the  seven  loaves  of  the  four  thousand,  and  how  many 
baskets  ye  took  up  ? 

11.  How  is  it,  that  ye  do  not  understand  that  I  spake  it  not  to  you  con. 
earning  bread,  that  ye  should  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and 
of  the  Sadducees  ? 

12.  Then  understood  they  how  that  he  bade  them  not  beware  o'  the 
leaven  of  bread,  but  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees. 

THE  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  had  looked  upon  the  whole 
demonstration  of  evidence  applied  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
course  of  his  varied  and  exciting  ministry,  and  were  exactly  in  the 
same  condition  of  unbelief  and  disguised  or  avowed  hostility  as 
before.     No  impression  had  been  made  upon  them  of  a  vital 


MATTHEW  XVI.  1-12.  361 

kind.  They  had  been  dazed  and  stunned  by  a  succession  of 
miracles,  but  had  not  been  convinced.  Allowing  that  great  and 
wonderful  cures  had  been  performed,  they  were  piously  anxious 
that  now  some  sign  should  be  shown  to  them  from  heaven.  You 
can  understand  the  unctuousness  with  which  they  pronounced 
that  sacred  word.  They  would  now  change  the  field  of  proof  : 
a  token  from  heaven  would  be  exactly  after  the  temper  of  their 
pious  and  noble  mind.  They  had  observed  the  wonderful  deeds 
which  had  been  done,  which  were  of  a  material  and  sensational 
kind,  and  which  were  adapted  in  a  kind  of  broad  manner  to  a 
certain  low  type  of  mind — but  they  desired  a  sign  from  heaven. 
The  earth  had  been  enough,  and  now  they,  wrapping  their 
religious  cloaks  closely  around  them,  desired  a  sign  from  heaven. 
Pious,  sweet-souled,  godly  men,  who  were  alive  on  the  heavenly 
side  of  their  nature,  and  who  would  accept  any  hint  or  claim  that 
came  from  the  sky,  in  infinite  preference  to  the  cures  of  the  leprous, 
the  dumb,  the  deaf,  the  blind,  and  the  maimed. 

This  is  a  common  and  holy  trick  in  all  corrupt  Churches. 
Give  them  what  you  may,  they  always  vv^ant  miracles  of  another 
kind.  Their  hearts  are  determined  in  unbelief,  therefore  do  their 
minds  affect  to  find  fault  with  the  evidence,  or  if  not  to  find  direct 
fault  with  it,  to  suggest  supplementary  demonstration  of  a  totally 
different  kind,  and  the  corrupt  Church  is  never  so  near  its  total 
damnation  as  when  it  affects  its  most  unctuous  piety  and  wants  a 
sign  from  heaven. 

We  want  sermons  of  another  kind,  when  the  devil  is  twisting 
his  fingers  further  and  further  round  us.  We  admire  the  sermons 
that  are  delivered,  but  we  would  see  a  sermon  from  heaven. 
Such  people  grant  the  intellect  but  they  affect  to  pine  for  the 
feeling.  They  do  not  deny  the  genius  but  they  desire  more 
spirituality.  They  do  not  doubt  that  good  has  been  done  in  certain 
cases  and  to  a  certain  class  of  minds,  but  they  desire  to  see  good 
of  another  kind  done.  This  is  a  stock  temptation  of  the  old 
serpent.  He  says,  ' '  What  you  have  to  eat  is  all  very  good,  but 
you  ought  to  ask  for  something  if  not  better,  yet  different.  You 
cannot  deny  that  notable  miracles  have  been  done,  and  that 
wonderful  doctrine  has  been  propounded.  Admit  all  that  :  ap- 
pear ever  to  be  generous  in  your  concessions,  but  ask  for  some- 
thing different,  play  the  pious  trick. ' '     Old  serpent,  cunning — and 


362  DENOUNCING   HYPOCRISY. 


yet  his  cunning  ought  now  to  be  so  transparent  that  we  should 
mocli  it  and  reject  it  with  bitter  scorn. 

How  did  Jesus  Christ  treat  this  pious  inquiry,  this  high  spiritual- 
ism of  desire  ?  The  answer  which  he  returned  was  itself  a  sign 
from  heaven  had  they  who  received  it  but  have  understood  its 
scope  and  its  purport.  It  was  a  two-edged  sword — no  other  man 
in  all  human  history  could  have  made  that  reply.  Observe  its 
moral  discernment.  "  O  ye  hypocrites."  Unhappily  we  have 
only  the  cold  ink  to  represent  that  word  :  we  miss  the  atmosphere 
of  its  utterance,  the  emphasis  which  carried  it  straight  into  the 
guilty  heart.  "  O  ye  hypocrites."  Was  not  their  pious  speech 
about  heaven,  was  not  their  question  simple  and  direct,  is  there 
any  one  word  in  it  that  could  give  reasonable  offence  did  they  not 
belong  to  the  spiritual  section  of  the  Church,  the  sighing,  crying 
and  sky-desiring  section  of  the  great  family  of  human  students 
and  religious  inquirers.?  "  O  ye  hypocrites," — that  was  a  sign 
from  heaven,  to  know  them  through  their  disguises,  to  accost  the 
devil  when  he  wore  an  angel's  livery,  to  take  him  with  mocking 
familiarity  by  the  face  and  call  him  devil,  notwithstanding  his 
clothes — that  was  a  sign  from  heaven. 

In  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ  we  must  always  judge  the  question 
by  the  answer  which  he  returns.  We  do  not  say  everything  in 
words  :  the  big  lie  is'in  the  heart  and  not  in  the  speech.  Christ 
answers  the  question  we  want  to  ask,  and  not  merely  the  inquiry 
which  we  actually  put  in  words.  Was  not  this  penetration  of 
character  a  sign  from  heaven  .?  Was  he  ever  much  grander  and 
nobler  than  when  he  faced  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  and 
answered  the  question  about  heaven  by  a  charge  of  personal  and 
unmixed  hypocrisy  1  Did  this  Man  palter  with  his  age,  did  this 
Man  pay  a  high  price  for  popularity .?  Was  this  the  way  to 
increase  his  fame  and  his  comfort }  Would  it  not  have  been 
better  for  him  to  have  taken  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  into 
some  quiet  and  sacred  place  and  shown  them  tricks  from  heaven  ? 
Mark  the  stern  and  invincible  consistency  of  this  Man  :  he  will 
have  no  compromise  with  hypocrisy.  He  will  not  enter  into 
partnership  on  forbidden  terms  and  with  forbidden  people.  This 
is  the  eternal  miracle  of  truth  :  it  pierces  us,  being  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword.  This  is  the  proof  of  tts  inspiration  which 
the  Bible  always  gives.     Do  not  find  its  inspiration  in  its  literary 


MATTHEW  XVI.  1-12.  363 

conscientiousness,  in  its  mechanical  consistency,  in  its  artistic 
finish — find  whether  it  is  inspired  or  not  by  its  moral  penetration, 
moral  omniscience,  moral  authority.  In  any  right  reading  of  this 
Book  we  stand  in  a  holy  place,  cut  off  from  everything  else,  made 
solemn  by  an  unspeakable  quietness,  so  quiet  that  a  whisper  is  as 
thunder,  so  holy  that  a  sigh  may  pollute  the  awful  sanctity.  So 
come  to  the  question  of  the  inspiration  of  Christ,  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Scriptures.  Understand  what  the  Bible  is  in  its  moral 
tone  and  moral  claim,  and  as  it  warns  off  all  generations  of  vipers 
and  broods  of  serpents,  and  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  hypocrites 
and  masked  men  and  visored  faces,  learn  that  it  is  the  very 
judgment  of  God  amongst  men,  no  more  to  be  trifled  with  than 
is  fire. 

The  moral  discernment  of  Christ's  answer  justified  the  judicial 
tone  by  which  he  mocked  the  hypocritical  inquirers.  "  When 
it  is  evening,  ye  say  it  will  be  fair  weather,  for  the  sky  is  red,  and 
in  the  morning  it  will  be  foul  weather  to-day,  for  the  sky  is  red 
and  lowering. ' '  They  were  weather-wise,  and  nothing  more,  they 
mistook  the  sky  for  heaven,  and  the  weather  lor  a  revelation. 
This  is  the  perpetual  mistake  of  men  who  have  no  inward  and 
spiritual  life.  The  temptation  of  to-day  is  that  men  should  study 
the  barometer.  Such  study  has  attained  almost  the  dignity  of  a 
science — the  barometer  is  now  a  Bible.  Jesus  Christ  does  not 
condemn  this  study  of  the  weather,  he  says  it  makes  a  man 
foolish  if  he  can  only  do  so  much  and  do  no  more.  A  man's 
knowledge  may  itself  be  an  argument  against  him  if  it  stops  short 
of  wisdom  ;  if  the  light  that  is  in  a  man  be  darkness,  how  great  is 
that  darkness  !  Jesus  allows  that  they  who  questioned  him  could 
read  the  face  of  the  sky,  but  he  charges  them  with  inability  to 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times. 

What  would  you  say  about  a  man  who  knew  all  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet,  liut  could  not  put  them  into  words  .''  How  would 
you  estimate  the  claim  of  any  man  to  wisdom  who  knew  every 
word  in  the  English  language,  and  yet  never  could  arrange  those 
words  into  sentences .?  It  looks  as  if  a  man  were  certainly  learned 
when  he  knows  instantly  ever}'  letter  of  the  alphabet — what  more 
can  any  man  know  .?  He  can  repeat  the  alphabet  backwards, 
forwards,  onwards  from  any  given  letter — what  more  can  be  desired  ? 
Yet  as  there  are  those  who  know  the  letters  but  cannot  shape 


364  PROVIDENCE  IN  HUMAN  AFFAIRS. 

them  into  words,  so  are  there  men  who  can  count  upon  their 
fingers  the  great  dogmas  of  Christianity  but  cannot  run  them  into 
musical  utterance,  or  mass  them  into  grand  practical  argument, 
or  translate  them  into  noble  and  beneficent  life.  They  are 
weather-wise,  letter-wise,  and  nothing  more.  Herein  is  the  great 
difficulty  of  all-expanding  revelation,  and  all-broadening  and  ever- 
enlarging  and  enlightening  ministries  amongst  men.  We  cannot 
get  them  to  understand  that  it  is  one  thing  to  know  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  and  a  totally  different  thing  to  run  those  letters  into 
words  and  those  words  into  ample  and  eloquent  sentences. 

Jesus  allows  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  his 
interrogators,  and  then  he  mocks  them  as  being  only  learned  in 
the  weather,  skilled  in  the  clouds,  but  having  no  eye  to  read  the 
writing  of  the  heavens.  When  you  look  upon  the  clouds  you  do 
not  look  upon  the  sky,  when  you  look  upon  the  sky  you  do  not 
see  into  heaven,  when  you  read  letters  you  do  not  form  words, 
when  you  pick  out  individual  words  you  do  not  construct  tuneful 
and  inspiring  sentences.  Stop  not  short  in  your  education,  but 
get  away  from  the  letter  to  the  word,  from  the  word  to  the  sen- 
tence, from  the  sentence  to  the  meaning,  from  the  meaning  to  the 
music,  from  the  music  to  the  Musician — God. 

Jesus  Christ's  answer  was  more  than  a  mockery,  it  was  also  a 
revelation  of  the  great  fact  that  we  are  surrounded  by  legible  and 
visible  providences  in  human  affairs.  "  Can  ye  not  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times.?"  We  should  not  need  miracles  if  we  could 
rightly  read  events — that  seems  to  be  the  spiritual  doctrine  of 
Jesus  Christ :  he  teaches  us  that  we  have  a  sign  from  heaven 
every  day,  and  that  we  only  need  the  seeing  eye  to  behold  its 
lustre  and  beauty.  It  is  thus  that  the  Son  of  God  lays  his  claim 
upon  our  attention  and  confidence  by  the  breadth  and  moral 
nobleness  of  his  teaching.  Whilst  we  with  blatant  curiosity  and 
affected  piety  are  wanting  new  signs  and  new  tokens  from  heaven, 
he  says,  '*  God  is  revealing  himself  in  all  the  processes  of  the  age. 
in  all  the  developments  of  civilization  :  you  should  read  these 
things  more  carefully,  and  you  would  not  be  pining  and  sighing 
for  other  proofs  and  demonstrations  of  the  divine  finger." 

Facts  are  lamps  by  which  we  should  see  God.  The  rapid  and 
startling  combination  of  events  surprising  the  crafty  by  new  con- 
jectures and  appalling  the    strong  by  unreckoned    energies,  are 


MATTHEW  XVI.  1-12.  365 

signs  of  a  power  as  beneficent  as  it  is  unlimited.  Ye  can  discern 
the  face  of  the  sky,  but  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ? 
The  little  that  we  can  do  is  mocked  by  the  great  which  we  cannot 
do — or  a  more  cheering  view  is  that  the  little  we  can  do  should 
be  the  stimulus  to  our  attempts  to  still  loftier  and  nobler  dis- 
coveries. Can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ?  is  a  chal- 
lenge and  not  a  rebuke.  Christianity  always  calls  us  to  an 
interpretation  of  the  events  that  make  up  the  history  of  our  own 
day.  Daily  journalism  should  be  daily  preaching  :  men  who 
keep  diaries  should  know  that  they  are  writing  revelations  from 
heaven.  John  Wesley  was  wont  to  say  that  he  read  the  news- 
papers to  see  how  God  was  governing  the  world.  When  journalism 
is  honest  without  being  pious,  real  and  healthy  without  being 
sentimental,  it  will  show  us  every  day  in  its  broad  sheet  a  thousand 
signs  from  heaven. 

Christianity  therefore  is  a  call  to  present  day  thinking.  Vener- 
able as  it  is  with  the  colours  of  old  time,  it  is  yet  modern  in  its 
sympathy  with  human  aspiration  and  its  control  over  human 
motive  and  purpose.  Not  ancient  history  but  modern  activity 
comes  within  the  claim  and  sovereignty  of  Christian  faith.  The 
Church  must  modernize  itself,  and  for  ever  be  the  youngest  as  well 
as  thfc  oldest  of  human  institutions. 

Jesus  Christ  in  closing,  which  he  to-day  practically  does,  the 
great  series  of  miracles  with  which  we  have  now  become  familiar, 
and  in  pointing  to  the  signs  of  the  times  as  God's  revelations  and 
tokens  amongst  us,  takes  his  stand  upon  the  broadest  and  most 
mdestructible  ground.  This  is  a  noble  finish  to  the  miracles. 
Again  and  again  we  shall  see  in  further  reading,  a  wonderful  work 
here  and  there,  but  practically  as  to  their  massiveness  and  con- 
secutiveness,  the  miracles  are  closed  in  this  reading.  Jesus  Christ 
in  retiring  from  a  series  of  mighty  works  says,  "  If  you  want  more 
miracles,  more  signs  from  heaven,  look  at  events,  p'^udy  the 
history  of  your  own  time,  from  a  religious  standpoint  sui-vey  the 
great  march  of  civilization,  the  conflict  of  interests,  the  battle  of 
truth  against  error,  light  against  darkness,  and  he  who  reads  the 
signs  of  the  times  aright  will  want  no  more  miracles  of  the  kind 
now  closed,  for  his  own  life  will  be  a  wonder,  every  event  upon 
earth  will  be  an  interposition  from  heaven." 

This  is  healthy  teaching,  this  is  robust,   masculine  talk.     The 


366  THE  SIGNS  OF  LIFE. 

man  who  took  this  attitude  was  not  afraid  of  his  religion  suffering 
from  contact  with  material  civilization  and  with  public  conflicts 
of  all  kinds.  He  was  not  only  a  God  distant,  infinite,  impalpable 
and  unnameable,  but  a  Father  in  the  household,  watching  all  the 
family  life,  interposing  in  its  succession  of  daily  events  and 
asserting  himself  with  all  the  processes  and  developments  of 
individual,  social,  and  national  life.  This  is  a  grand  farewell.  He 
is  now  about  to  be  taken  up  from  us  into  a  loftier  region  of 
teaching,  and  before  this  intermediate  ascension  he  says  to  us  in 
broad  noble  speech,  ' '  Read  the  signs  of  the  times,  consider  the 
events  that  are  passing  round  about  you,  and  you  will  have  no 
further  need  for  miracles  and  wonders  of  a  kind  to  which  you 
have  now  been  long  accustomed." 

Let  us  learn  then  from  Christ's  answer  that  the  events  of  the 
day  are  signs.  The  sign  is  always  more  than  itself  :  the  sign 
points  to  the  thing  signified.  And  let  us  also  learn  that  these 
signs  were  meant  to  be  studied.  Jesus  Christ  would  never  refer 
us  to  unauthorized  sources  of  thought  and  expression.  God 
means  his  providences  to  be  searched  into,  compared  one  with 
another,  set  in  proper  relation  and  succession.  Have  we  the 
seeing  eye  .''  There  is  a  shape  in  events  ;  circumstances,  occur- 
rences, transactions  are  not  unrelated  stories,  but  they  were  meant 
to  be  put  together  to  grow  up  into- a  holy  temple  unto  the  Lord, 
from  the  foundation  to  the  loftiest  pinnacle.  Do  not  suppose  that 
time  is  chaotic,  look  for  the  shape — when  you  cannot  see  the 
shape,  look  for  the  shadow.  Your  affliction  means  something, 
your  disappointments  have  a  purpose,  your  successes  have  a 
divine  meaning,  your  opportunities  are  doors  opened  by  divine 
fingers.  Fool  is  he  who  thinks  that  every  event  is  but  a  laden 
vehicle  that  turns  out  its  contents  every  night,  and  passes  on  to 
bring  other  contents  and  to  throw  them  into  the  same  shapeless 
heap. 

Read  the  signs  of  your  own  life.  Throw  the  memory  of  the 
heart  back  to  the  time  when  you  were  young,  little,  poor, 
unknown,  misunderstood,  misjudged,  assailed,  nearly  ruined, 
often  sick,  sometimes  friendless.  How  doors  opened,  how  friends 
came,  how  unexpected  voices  broke  in  upon  the  solitude  of  your 
despair,  how  little  gleams  and  glints  of  light  stirred  in  upon  the 
darkness  of  your  dejection — let  the  whole  scene  pass  before  your 


MATTHEW  XVI.  1-12.  367 


inner  vision,  and  you  will  want  no  miracles  of  a  sensational, 
external,  and  striking  kind.  You  yourself  will  be  the  miracle,  and 
unless  a  man  feels  himself  to  be  a  miracle,  all  written  and  histori- 
cal miracles  will  be  but  so  many  stumbling-blocks  to  his  faith.  If 
we  preach  the  miracles  only  along  the  line  of  merely  intellectual 
enquiry,  all  nature  will  seem  to  be  against  us,  great  laws  of  con- 
tinuity will  assail  our  faith  in  every  approach  it  makes  towards  the 
conclusion  ;  but  if  we  ourselves,  being  miracles,  preach  the  con- 
sideration of  Christ's  wonderful  works,  they  will  seem  to  be  part 
of  himself,  almost  parts  of  ourselves,  and  we  will  know  them  by  a 
masonry  of  the  heart  which  has  no  words  which  can  adequately 
express  the  subtlety  of  its  penetration  or  the  grasp  of  its  power. 

Though  the  written  revelation  has  closed  and  no  more  ink  can 
be  added  to  God's  Bible,  living  revelation  is  continual.  Woe  unto 
that  man  who  takes  his  ink-horn  and  dips  his  pen,  with  the  hope 
of  adding  anything  to  the  Book  to  which  God  himself  has  added 
the  grand  Amen  ;  but  joy  to  that  heart,  a  Sabbath  every  day,  light 
upon  light  till  the  whole  life  burns  with  a  sacred  lustre,  who  sees 
God  in  Providence,  reads  him  in  daily  events,  hears  his  going  in 
every  click  of  the  telegraph,  sees  him  walking  upon  the  waters, 
and  watches  him  bringing  chaos  into  order,  tumult  into  peace  and 
music. 

A  small  event  occurred  afterward,  a  scene  of  blundering  stupidity 
on  the  part  of  men  who  were  nearest  to  him,  and  who  ought  to 
have  heard  the  beating  of  his  heart  more  clearly  than  others,  but 
as  we  ourselves  are  making  the  same  blunder  every  day,  mistaking 
the  letter  for  the  spirit,  the  loaf  for  the  doctrine,  mixing  up  sacred 
and  secular,  and  not  able  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other — 
we  had  better  not  rebuke  in  terms  too  severe  their  stupidity,  lest 
we  inflict  fatal  wounds  upon  our  own  sagacity. 


LXVII. 

THE  SILENT  LOOKS  OF  CHRIST. 
Mark  xi.  11. 

"  And  Jesus  entered  into  Jerusalem,  and  into  the  temple  :  and  when 
he  had  looked  round  about  upon  all  things,  he  went  out." 

THIS  is  one  of  the  passages  of  Scripture  that  the  reader  may 
easily  pass  without  allowing  his  attention  to  be  sufficiently 
arrested.  The  singularily  of  this  act  will  not  escape  your  notice 
now  that  the  verse  is  read  as  a  text,  Jesus  Christ  entered  into 
the  city,  and  into  the  temple  ;  merely  looked  round  about  upon  all 
things,  and  went  out.  The  comprehensiveness  of  this  act  will  make 
you  feel  as  if  you  were  girt  about  with  eyes.  Jesus  Christ  entered 
into  the  city  and  into  the  temple,  and  looked  round  about  upon 
all  things.  The  great  things,  the  things  minute  and  obscure  and 
comparatively  worthless.  If  he  thought  it  worth  while  to  create 
the  daisy,  will  it  be  beneath  him  to  stop  and  look  at  the  little 
beauty  which  he  painted  }  We  do  not  look  upon  all  things.  We 
look  upon  faces,  surfaces,  transient  aspects  of  things  ;  but  Jesus 
looks  into  spirit,  purpose,  motive,  heart,  impulse,  will,  and  all  the 
secrets  of  that  supreme  mystery  amongst  us  called  human  life. 

The  silence  of  this  act  will  almost  affright  you.  Jesus  came 
into  the  city,  looked  round  about  upon  all  things,  and  did  not  say 
one  word.  That  is  terrible  !  When  men  speak  to  me,  I  can  in 
some  measure  understand  what  they  are  aiming  at.  But  there 
are  some  looks,  even  amongst  ourselves,  that  are  mysteries  ;  there 
are  some  glances  shot  from  human  eyes  that  trouble  the  beholder  ! 
Can  guilt  bear  the  lingering  enquiring  gaze  of  innocence  .?  Does 
not  the  corrupt  man  fear  the  eye  of  the  just  man  more  than  he 
would  fear  the  lightning  at  midnight }  May  not  that  look  mean 
so  much,  even  if  it  be  a  look  of  unsuspicion  and  of  entire  igno- 
rance, so  far  as  the  immediate  circumstances  are  concerned  }     Yet 


MARK  X.  23.  369 

it  may  mean  so  much  ;  and  that  potential  mood  is  the  hell  of  the 
bad  man. 

You  see,  then,  that  our  text  leads  us  to  look,  not  at  the  miracles 
and  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  to  study  his  looks,  as  indications 
of  his  character.  And  it  may  be  profitable,  after  we  have  spent 
some  time  in  examining  the  eyes  of  the  Saviour,  to  enquire  how 
we  should  return  the  looks  that  are  so  full  of  meaning.  The  sub- 
ject is.  The  Silent  Looks  of  the  Son  of  God  f 

In  reading  the  Evangelists,  have  you  ever  noticed  that  Mark, 
above  all  the  other  writers,  takes  note  of  the  looks  of  the  Saviour .? 
Different  men  see  different  phases  of  the  same  object.  Luke 
began  his  Gospel  by  saying  that  he  was  going  to  tell  Theophilus 
everything.  Who  can  tell  everything  about  the  Son  of  God  .?  I 
speak  not  only  for  myself,  but  for  every  minister  in  this  house, 
and,  I  believe,  for  the  whole  Church  of  God,  in  saying  that,  after 
we  have  written  our  sermons  and  our  books,  the  thing  that  strikes 
us  most  is  their  emptiness.  We  seem  to  have  missed  the  very 
point  we  intended  to  indicate,  and  when  we  have  ceased  our  talk 
and  our  effort,  there  comes  upon  us  a  sense  of  having  ill  done  what 
we  aimed  to  do,  and  we  feel  as  if  we  had  not  yet  begun  the  story 
that  is  as  a  centre  without  a  circumference. 

"And  Jesus  looked  round  about"  (Mark  x.  23).  It  would 
appear  that  Jesus  Christ's  look  was,  then,  a  circular  look.  Instead 
of  faxing  his  eye  upon  one  point,  he  fixed  his  vision  upon  all 
points,  and,  as  it  were,  at  the  same  moment  of  time.  *'  And 
Jesus  looked  round  about."  This  is  an  action  specifically  by 
itself.  "  And  having  looked  round  he  saith  unto  his  disciples, 
How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  !"  The  look  of  the  preacher  should  mean  something. 
Earnest  men  should  have  a  look  peculiarly  their  own.  What,  my 
friend,  if  thy  sermon  has  failed  to  take  effect  because  thy  face 
gave  the  lie  to  thy  voice  .''  There  are  looks  and  looks.  When 
will  men  discriminate  between  things  that  differ .?  when  will  they 
cease  to  regard  all  things  as  alike  .?  and  when  will  the  time  come 
when  men  can  see  meanings  even  in  unlikely  things  ?  I  have 
seen  on  the  plainest  faces  looks  that  had  soul  in  them.  I  have 
seen  poor  people  look  at  me,   in  telling  the  story  of  their  trouble, 


370  THE  CIRCULAR  LOOK. 

in  a  way  that  has  gone  to  my  very  heart,  and  melted  it  in  tender 
sympathy  with  their  sufferings.  I  have  seen  persons  to  whom 
intelligence  of  a  startling  nature  has  been  brought — intelligence 
of  broken  fortune,  of  expired  friends — who  could  not  say  one 
word,  and  yet  I  had  rather  seen  a  tiger  than  the  look  of  dis- 
appointment and  shame  and  fear  and  pity  that  I  have  seen  upon 
some  human  faces.  Go  and  tell  a  man  who  is  laughing — inno- 
cently laughing — that  his  only  child  has  been  found  dead  on  the 
roadside.  The  man  does  not  talk  to  you,  except  with  his  eyes 
and  his  face.  There  is  no  storm  so  terrible  as  the  darkening  and 
the  raining  of  grief  !  Jesus  Christ  accompanied  his  words  with  a 
look,  and  sometimes  left  his  look  unaccompanied  by  a  word. 

"  But  when  he  had  turned  about  and  looked  on  his  disciples, 
he  rebuked  Peter. ' '  He  looked  them  all  into  attention,  and  then 
gave  them  the  lesson.  Is  he  not  looking  here  to-day .?  Should 
there  be  any  turned  heads  amongst  us,  any  indiffei'ent  eyes,  any 
careless  hearts .?  I  thank  God  I  believe  that  so  many  people  as 
I  see  before  me  would  not  come  together  at  twelve  o'clock  with- 
out earnestness  in  their  hearts  regarding  this  ministration  of  the 
gospel.  Observe  the  peculiarity  of  the  occasion.  ' '  When  he  had 
turned  about,  and  looked  on  his  disciples,  he  rebuked  Peter." 
The  look  was  a  general  caution  ;  the  rebuke  was  an  individual 
application.  The  look  was  as  a  common  judgment;  the  rebuke 
was  a  personal  law.  Jesus  looks  when  he  does  not  rebuke,  but 
he  never  rebukes  without  looking.  My  friend,  thou  wouldst  see 
more  of  the  eye  of  God  if  thou  wouldst  drop  the  scales  from  thine 
own.  But  my  subject  is  the  sile7it  looks  of  the  Saviour.  Luke, 
in  his  twenty-second  chapter,  indicates  a  remarkable  instance  of 
such  looks — viz.,  ^'  The  Lord  turned  and  looked  upon  Peter."  Did 
he  speak  }  No.  Did  hp  cry  out,  "  Shame  !"  No.  What  did 
he  do  .-*  He  turned  and  looked  \\Y>on  Peter,  and  broke  the  man's 
heart.  May  he  break  our  hearts  in  the  same  way  ere  he  cut  us 
in  pieces  with  the  sword  of  his  anger,  and  utterly  slay  us  with  the 
breath  of  his  judgment  !  He  had  told  Peter  that  before  the  cock 
crowed  he  would  deny  his  Master  three  times.  Peter  had  just 
given  the  third  denial  ;  immediately  the  cock  crowed.  The  Lord 
turned  and  looked  upon  Peter,  and  Peter's  heart  of  rock  melted 
into  a  river  of  tears.     What  was  there  in  the  look  ?     Does  the 


MARK  III.    5.  371 

eye  of  Jesus  look  memories  at  us  ?  broken  vows,  oaths,  pledges  ? 
Is  the  eye  of  the  Saviour  like  a  mirror,  in  which  a  man  may  see 
himself  ?  Is  the  eye  of  Jesus  Christ  terrible  as  a  sword  of  judgment, 
that  it  can  cut  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  the  joints  and  marrow  of 
a  man  ? 

Mark  gives  us  another  silent  look  in  his  third  chapter  and  fifth 
verse.  "  And  when  Jesus  had  looked  round  about  on  them  with 
anger,  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  he  saith  unto 
the  man,  Stretch  forth  thine  hand."  He  said  nothing  to  the 
individuals  themselves  ;  he  only  looked  round  about  on  them 
with  anger.  I  have  heard  of  the  sword  that  flamed  in  Eden,  that 
moved  from  the  east  to  the  west,  and  back  again,  night  and  day. 
But  oh,  I  could  have  run  through  that  sword,  methinks,  compared 
with  this  circle  of  fiery  anger  which  now  surrounded  the  Son  of 
God  !  anger  of  the  most  terrible  kind, — anger  arising  out  oi  grief . 
The  anger  of  malice  who  cares  for }  The  anger  of  mortified 
pride,  vanity,  ambition — who  heeds  it  1  The  anger  of  mere 
selfishness, — what  is  the  meaning  of  that .?  But  when  grief  ixxxvis, 
to  anger  ;  when  love  itself  becomes  M^rath, — who  can  abide  the 
day  of  its  coming.?  Is  there  anything  so  terrible  as  "  the  wrath 
of  the  Lamb"- — that  greatest  contradiction  in  words,  apparently, 
yet  that  consummation  of  purest  anger  in  reality.?  "The  Lord 
lobketh  on  the  heart."  The  Lord  is  always  looking.  He  looketh 
from  heaven,  and  beholdeth  the  children  of  men.  The  Lord 
looked  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  feared  him,  and  that  honoured 
his  name.  There  is  no  protection  from  his  eye.  This  is  a  terrible 
statement  to  be  delivered  to  the  bad  man  !  You  are  never  alone  ! 
When  you  think  you  are  alone,  your  solitude  is  but  relative.  You 
can  take  the  thinnest  veil  and  hide  yourself  from  men,  but  who 
can  hide  himself  behind  impenetrable  curtains  and  screenings 
from  the  eye  of  fire }  All  things  are  naked  and  open  unto  the 
eyes  of  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  !  "  Whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  presence  V '  The  question  is  unanswered  and  unanswer- 
able, God  fills  the  universe,  overflows  infinitude,  and  thou  canst 
not  escape  his  eye  !  I  think  I  have  heard  something  before  of 
this  silent  look.  You  may  recall  it.  When  I  read  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, as  I  have  just  read  our  morning  lesson,  about  John  seeing, 
on  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  eyes  like  a  flame  of  fire,  I  felt  that  I  had 
read  something  like  that  before.     Where }     Can  you  tell  me  ? 


372  THE    TERRIBLE  LOOK. 

Young  friends,  who  are  supposed  to  have  just  read  the  Bible,  you 
who  have  the  youngest,  tenderest,  freshest  memories,  can  you 
tell  me  ?  Where  ?  You  read  something  like  it  in  the  Book  of 
Exodus.  The  eye  of  the  Lord  never  dims.  If  you  have  once 
read  of  it,  you  never  r.an  forget  it ;  if  you  have  once  seen  it,  it  is 
an  eternal  presence  ! 

When  the  Egyptians  pursued  Israel,  and  there  was  a  halt  made, 
a  cloud  came  between  the  Israelites  and  the  Egyptians  ;  the  one 
side  was  brightness — that  is  on  the  side  towards  the  Israelites — 
and  the  other  side  was  darkness  ;  and  ihe  Lord  looked  out  of  the 
cloud  and  troubled  the  Egyptians !  Have  I  your  attention  .?  Do 
you  follow  me  ?  The  Lord  looked  out  of  the  cloud  and  troubled 
the  Egyptians,  and  his  glory  struck  off  the  iron  from  the  wheels  of 
their  chariots,  and  they  were  dismayed  !  Not  a  word  was  spoken  ; 
there  was  no  thunder  in  the  air.  What  was  it  then  that  troubled 
haughty  Egypt,  proud  of  her  resources,  fat  with  the  marrow  of  her 
accursed  victories  over  a  bound  people, — what  was  it  that  troubled 
the  haughty  queen  }  It  was  a  look,  a  silent  look  !  An  argument 
could  have  been  answered  mayhap  :  if  not  answered,  it  could 
have  been  replied  to.  But  a  look!  who  could  return  it .''  When 
the  lightning  strikes  a  man,  who  can  look  at  it .'  Ay,  when  the 
summer  sun  goes  behind  a  cloud,  as  it  were,  and  suddenly  strikes 
down  upon  the  lookers  up,  who  can  bear  the  sting  of  his  fire.  So, 
then,  you  will  find  that  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  often  spoken  of 
in  the  holy  Book.  Are  these  eyes  terrible  then  .'  May  any  one 
look  at  them  .?  Herein  is  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  seen.  What  is 
terrible  is  also  gentle.  "  Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire  I"  "  God 
is  love  !"  "He  numbereth  the  stars  !"  "He  bindeth  up  the 
broken  in  heart  !"  He  walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and 
the  clouds  are  as  the  dust  of  his  feet,  and  his  utterance  shakes  the 
kingdoms  and  dominions  of  the  universe  !  Yet  not  a  sparrow 
falleth  to  the  ground  without  your  Father's  notice  !  If  the  looks 
are  terrible  they  can  also  be  benign.  Hear  the  proof  of  this  :  "  I 
will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye. ' '  Lord,  what  is  the  history  of  thine 
eye  .?  the  eye  that  troubled  Egypt,  and  struck  off  the  iron  from 
the  chariot-wheels  of  the  host  of  Pharaoh  .?  the  eye  that  divideth  the 
waters,  and  made  them  stand  back,  that  the  Lord  might  pass  in 
the  person  of  his  chosen  one  .?  "I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye. ' ' 
The  eye  that  makes  day,  and  summer,  and  beauty,  and  the  eternal 


MARK  XI.  II.  m 


light  !  Behold  the  goodness  and  seventy  of  God  !  "I  have 
heard,"  said  the  Psalmist,  "  that  power  belongeth  unto  God  !" 
And  he  trembled,  and  he  took  up  his  pen  again,  and  wrote,  "  To 
thee  also,  O  Lord,  belongeth  mercy  !"  Omnipotence  in  the  hand 
of  mercy  is  the  idea  of  righteous  government.  So  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord  are  very  terrible.  Flames  of  fire  are  the  only  symbols  by 
which  they  can  be  likened  amongst  us  ;  but  they  are  also  gentle, 
melting  with  dewy  tenderness,  yearning  with  unutterable  pity  ; 
looking  out  for  us  ;  watching  our  home  coming,  looking  over  the 
hills  and  along  the  curving  valleys,  if  haply  they  may  see  some- 
what of  the  shadow  of  the  returning  child  ! 

Will  it  not  be  profitable  for  us  now  to  enquire  :  If  such  be  the 
looks  of  God  the  Father  and  the  Son,  how  should  we  return 
looks  that  are  so  full  of  significance  and  purpose  }  Are  we  not 
able  to  use  our  eyes  to  advantage  .'  Hear  the  Word  of  the  Lord. 
''''  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye  ends  of  the  earth." 
How  }  Look  not  with  the  eyes  of  the  body,  nor  with  curiosity  ; 
but  with  reverence,  with  eagerness  of  heart,  with  determination  of 
love,  with  all  the  urgency  and  importunity  of  conscious  need. 
He  asks  us  to  look  ;  to  look  at  himself  ;  to  look  at  himself,  not 
on  the  Throne  of  Judgment,  but  in  his  capacity  as  Redeemer  and 
Saviour  of  the  world.  Have  you  looked  }  Pause  !  There  is  no 
need  to  be  in  haste.  Have  you  looked?  Observe  our  earliest 
lesson  this  morning — viz. ,  there  is  looking  and  looking.  I  have 
seen  a  dog  look  towards  the  sun,  but  he  saw  it  not  !  The  beast 
always  seems  to  be  looking  upon  the  flowers  of  the  meadow,  but 
it  is  not  seeing  them  I  Have  you  looked  with  your  heart,  with 
your  hunger,  with  your  urgent  need  .''  Have  you  looked  with  that 
expectant,  piercing  look  that  means,  ' '  I  will  see  " .''  "  Yes, ' '  says 
one  of  my  hearers,  "  I  have  looked,  and  I  have  a  comfortable 
sense  of  having  seen  the  Lord  ;  but  I  get  so  weary,  and  jaded, 
and  worn  out  by  the  difficulties,  frets,  temptations,  and  chafings 
of  this  earthly  life,  that  sometimes  I  do  not  know  what  to  do." 
Then  let  me  tell  you  what  to  do.  If,  for  a  moment,  I  have  the 
advantage  of  you,  I  will  use  my  advantage  to  teach  and  comfort 
you,  if  I  can.  You  are  wearj^  worn,  dispirited,  tempted,  dis- 
couraged, and  do  not  know  how  to  go  on.  Go  on  thus — looking 
unto  Jesus !  You  will  see  how  the  various  texts  belong  to  one 
another,   and    constitute  one  piece  of    solid    religious    teaching. 


374  LOOK  UNTO    JESUS. 

Looking  unto  Jesus.  Returning  the  look  of  the  Saviour.  Not  a 
hasty  glance,  but  a  steady,  importunate,  eager,  penetrating  "  look- 
ing for."  And  he  is  only  behind  a  veil.  If  you  did  but  know  it, 
there  is  hardly  a  cloud  between  !  He  will  come  from  behind,  and 
say  to  the  heart  that  has  waited  for  him,  ,"  For  a  small  moment  I 
have  forsaken  thee,  but  with  everlasting  mercies  will  I  gather 
thee."  It  was  better  to  have  that  small  moment.  There  may  be 
a  monotony  of  kindness,  a  monotony  of  light.  Better  to  have  a 
momentary  senJie  of  orphanage,  and  then  to  be  embraced  with  a 
still  fonder  clasp  by  the  infinite  love  of  the  eternal  heart  ! 

Look  unto  Jesus  even  through  your  tears.  Tears  are  telescopes. 
I  have  seen  further  through  my  tears  than  ever  I  saw  through  my 
smiles.  Laughter  hath  done  but  little  for  me  ;  but  sorrow  and  a 
riven  heart  have  expounded  many  passages  in  the  inspired  volume 
that  before  were  hard,  enigmatical  reading.  Blessed  be  God,  we 
can  see  Jesus  through  our  tears.  He  knows  what  tears  are.  Jesus 
wept  !  The  eyes  that  John  saw  as  a  flame  of  fire  the  Jews  at  the 
grave  of  Lazarus  saw  as  fountains  of  water.  ' '  And  coming  near 
unto  the  city,  when  he  beheld  it,  he  wept  over  it."  No  man  can 
fathom  the  depth  of  that  river,  or  tell  the  bitterness  of  that  sorrow. 
You  have  tears.  Every  man  amongst  us  has  his  tearful  times. 
But  we  use  our  tears  wrongfully  if  we  do  not  lift  up  our  eyes  and 
look  through  them  unto  Jesus  in  the  heavens  !  So  much  for  the 
comfortable  side  of  this.  Dare  I  turn  to  the  other  side  }  Surely, 
lor  I  am  a  steward  only.  May  I  say  another  word  that  shall  not 
be  so  tender  ?  Surely,  for  I  am  an  echo,  not  a  voice.  Am  I 
here  to  make  a  Bible  for  the  comforting  and  soothing  of  men, 
and  not  to  expound  a  Bible  that  looks  all  ways,  and  pierces  all 
things  .'  If  I  now  speak  with  apparent  harshness,  believe  me  that 
it  is  a  cry  of  pain,  that  I  may  bring  some  men  to  consideration 
and  decision  in  a  right  direction.  My  subject  is  the  silent  looks 
of  the  Saviour — the  silent  looks  of  God — and  the  method  in 
which  men  are  to  return  the  glances  of  the  divine  eyes.  Let  me 
say  that  those  who  will  not  look  now  shall  look  !  The  great  sight 
shall  not  perish  from  the  horizon  without  their  beholding  it.  Hear 
these  words — "  They  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced  ! 
They  would  not  look  upon  me,  but  they  shall  do  so  !"  The  great 
cross  shall  not  be  taken  up  and  set  away  in  the  heavens  as  a  centre 
of  holy  fellowship  without  those  who  despise  it  having  one  look 


MARK  XI.  \\.  375 


at  it !  What  will  be  the  consequence  of  their  looking  ?  They 
shall  look  upon  him  whom  they  have  pierced,  and  mourn  !  The 
look  was  too  late  ;  the  look  was  not  in  time.  You  have  put  your 
fingers  in  your  ears  while  the  sweet  music  of  the  Gospel  has  been 
appealing  for  the  attention  of  your  heart  ;  you  have  shut  your  eyes 
when  the  king  has  come  in  to  show  you  his  beauty.  But  he  saj's 
he  will  not  break  up  this  scheme  of  things  without  every  eye 
beholding  !  Every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  also  that  pierced 
him  shall  look  upon  him.  Shall  I  add  another  word  that  no 
human  tongue  is  fit  to  speak  }  How  shall  I  utter  it  1  If  I  could 
let  my  heart  say  it,  I  would.  But  it  must  be  spoken  with  all  the 
incompetence  and  brokenness  of  the  voice.  There  shall  be  a  cry 
in  the  latter  time,  and  the  cry  shall  be  this — "  Hide  us  from  the 
face  of  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  ! ' '  Hide  us  !  What  from  } 
"  The  sword  V  No.  "  The  terrible  phenomena.?"  No.  But 
from  \\\^face — that  anguished  face,  that  smitten  face,  that  insulted 
face  !  Oh  !  I  see  the  marks  the  thorns  made  !  I  see  the  red 
streaks  upon  it  that  I  made  when  I  smote  him  in  the  face  and 
said,  "  Prophesy  !"  Oh,  hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sitteth 
on  the  throne  !  Shall  it  come  to  this  }  Is  he  not  the  fairest 
among  ten  thousand  and  altogether  lovely }  Is  there  any  one 
whose  beauty  is  to  be  compared  with  his  .'*  You  say,  "  Our  God 
is  love."  Yes,  "Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire!"  You  say, 
' '  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  a  comfort  to  his  people. ' '  So  they 
are.  But  the  eye  of  the  Lord  struck  off  the  iron  from  the  wheels 
of  the  Egyptians  on  the  night  I  have  just  spoken  about. 

We  shall  have  to  look  :  the  only  question  is,  how  }  Are  we 
prepared  for  his  coming .?  How  are  we  prepared  for  his  face  ? 
By  going  to  his  Cross.  He  proposes  that  we  should  meet  him 
in  his  weakness.  He  appoints  the  place.  He  says,  "  Meet  me 
where  I  am  weakest ;  when  my  right  hand  is  maimed,  and  my 
left,  when  my  feet  are  pierced  with  iron,  and  my  side  is  gashed 
with  steel,  and  my  temples  are  crushed  with  cruel  thorns, — meet 
me  there  !"  Then  having  met  him  there,  when  the  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  his  holy  angels  with  him,  he  will 
be  the  same  Saviour,  as  gentle  and  as  pitiful  as  ever.  And  now, 
the  Lord's  hands  are  his  again,  he  will  use  them  for  the  opening 
of  the  door  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  lifting  up  of  all  who  put 
their  trust  in  him  ! 


NOTES  ON  THE  SABBATH. 

{See page  20S.) 

1.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Jeivish  Sabbath  is  binding  on  Christian!,, 
but  I  believe  that  the  Creational  idea  of  the  Sabbath  is  unchangeable. 

2.  By  the  Creational  Sabbath  I  mean  the  seventh-day  rest.  When,  in 
this  discourse,  I  speak  of  stealing  God's  time  I  mean  stealing  the  seventh 
day  of  rest,  be  it  Sunday  or  Saturday,  Monday  or  Thursday. 

3.  Christians  can  have  no  doubt  as  to  choice  of  day.  That  is  deter- 
mined for  them.  They  want  no  other.  It  is  Resurrection  day.  They 
would  as  soon  change  a  birthday  as  change  the  Lord's  Day. 

4.  The  Sabbath  controversy  can  never  be  settled  by  references  to  Juda- 
ism, or  by  references  to  anything  of  the  nature  of  mere  usage,  apostolic 
or  patristic.  It  is  the  heart  that  remembers  the  elect  day,  and  it  is  the 
heart  alone  that  can  "  keep''  it.  Christian  obedience  is  a  sacrifice  of  love 
and  joy,  without  one  particle  of  mere  legalism,  or  one  link  of  bondage. 
We  cannot  keep  the  Sabbath  because  we  are  commanded  to  do  it,  but 
because  we  long  for  it  with  all  the  eager  expectancy  of  love. 

5.  What  wonder  if  Christians  are  unwilling  even  to  appear  to  de-sanctify 
the  day  ?  I  do  not  use  the  strong  word  "desecrate,"  for  it  is  not  the 
intention  of  many  free-Sabbatarians  to  do  anything  so  violent.  Chris- 
tians have  what  to  them  are  the  tenderest  reasons  for  preserving  and  hal- 
lowing the  day  of  Christ  ;  not  only  have  they  an  argument,  they  have  also 
an  emotion  to  direct  their  policy.  Even  if  their  logic  could  be  answered, 
their  sentiment  would  be  indestructible. 

6.  I  believe  it  would  be  perfectly  possible  to  open  museums  and  gal- 
leries of  art  on  Sunday  without  doing  injury  of  a  social  kind  in  thousands 
of  instances.  But  Christians  as  such,  who  really  reverence  the  day 
because  of  its  distinctively  Christian  memories,  can  never  promote  such 
opening.  As  citizens  and  as  reformers  of  some  kinds  of  social  abuses, 
they  may  not  hinder  the  introduction  of  any  healthy  compeliti'^n  as 
against  taverns  and  places  of  dissipation,  but  as  Christians  they  can  ^ever 
consent  to  fall  below  the  level  of  the  day's  one  great  meaning  -the 
triumph  and  the  joy  of  their  Lord's  Resurrection. 

END   OF   VOL.    II. 


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